Beauty and the Geek, Xmen Style
by Chellerbelle
Summary: AU: The cast of X-men Evolution does the realty TV show Beauty and the Geek. Can ten beautiful women and men, and ten intelligent men and women learn to become a whole lot more?
1. Episode 1

**AN:**

This is an AU. None of the characters have met each other prior to the start of the story unless otherwise stated. Everyone has their respective mutant abilities. Also, everyone is 21 or older.

About half of the backgrounds for the characters have been taken straight from their comic-canon history. I.e, Jean Grey really did work as a swim suit model at one point, Toad really did do things with robots. In some cases I've stretched things: Kitty can dance, but to my knowledge has never done so professionally, likewise with Jubilee and gymnastics.

Some people may disagree with my choices for Beauties and Geeks. The fact is that a lot of the characters from _X-men__Evolution_ can easily fit under either label.

The challenges have been taken from the show itself (both American and Australia versions), either completely or some variation thereof. I didn't invent new challenges partly because I'm lazy, but mostly because the existing challenges were what inspired me to write this story in the first place.

Also, I admit to shamelessly stealing most of the questions for the elimination rounds from the show.

[Insert obligatory disclaimer about lack of association or ownership of Marvel characters and the show _Beauty__ and __the __Geek _here]

Updates will be once every two days.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 1<strong>

The limousine came to a stop outside of the mansion and Gambit opened the door. He stepped out and looked at the mansion where he and his two companions would be staying for at least the next week and was unimpressed. Maybe Lance and Pietro were wowed by what Gambit liked to refer to as a 'McMansion', but he firmly believed it had nothing on the exquisite charm of the LeBeau estate back in New Orleans.

There was one other limousine in the driveway, and standing scattered in front of it was seven of their other housemates. Seven fashionably-dressed, skinny women. Perhaps Gambit was jaded from one too many one-night-stands, but the only words that came to mind were 'standard fare'.

Gambit had never intended on being a contestant on _Beauty__and__the__Geek_. In fact, he'd never even heard of the show until his girlfriend at the time mentioned it and then promptly dragged him along to one of the open auditions. Actually, the audition hadn't been all that bad; he rather enjoyed pretending to be the dumb male equivalent of the girl who had been hanging off his arm. No doubt the ditzy girl would be furious when she found out he'd gotten a spot and she hadn't.

As the crew gathered everyone together for a group shot, Gambit mulled over how if it hadn't been for Mercy seeing the acceptance letter, he sure wouldn't have gone through with it. Unfortunately, his loud-mouth, conniving sister-in-law made sure _everyone_ found out. With all the teasing, taunting and challenging that went on, Gambit felt he had no choice but to see this through.

After the group shots were done, each Beauty did a brief interview, and then they were all directed inside. They were informed that the Geeks would be arriving soon and then they were left to their own devices. The ten looked at each other.

The bubbly, professional dancer, Kitty began chatting giddily with the red-headed swimsuit model, Jean, and professional shopper, Tabitha. Gymnast Jubilee and beautician Amanda latched onto Pietro, and the ice skater welcomed their attention. Lance, flair bartender, likewise became involved with cocktail waitress Wanda and the young Amara, whose claim to fame was sorority girl.

* * *

><p>Spyke, as host of the show, stepped into the study where the ten 'Geeks' had gathered.<p>

"All right," he said to get their attention in case he didn't already have it. "This series the Beauties will be the ones getting to select their partners, so you'll all be going one by one into the next room to present yourselves. Just give an introduction, share something about yourself, whatever you want. Then you wait by the stairs in the foyer, they'll talk it over and someone will come out and that someone will be your partner. We're going to go two men, a woman, two men, a woman, two men, a woman, a man. Got it?"

The Geeks gave their affirmative.

"Okay, and now we're just going to film me giving you your official welcome," Spyke said with a grin, "so please excuse me with I re-enter the room."

There was some laughter while Spyke departed. He waited until he got the cue from the director and then stepped back in through the curtain.

"Gentlemen, ladies," Spyke said to the attentive listeners. "You're all here because you're all highly intelligent on the academic level. In the next room there are ten incredibly attractive people, seven women and three men, who are also highly intelligent, but on the social level. Now, each one of you is going to be partnered with one of these Beauties and help them learn the skills they need to succeed outside of the social scene, while they will be teaching you the skill you need to succeed _on_the social scene. The team that makes the greatest transformation will win $250,000."

Spyke smiled at the suitably pleased reaction he got from the Geeks.

"So, one at a time each of you is going to go out there and introduce yourself and then the Beauties will decide which one they want to partner with," he said. "Who wants to go first?"

Silence.

"Well," said Kurt bravely into the awkward silence. "I guess I will."

x-x-x

Kurt took a deep breath as he stepped into the lounge room. He mentally told himself that this was no different from the circus and there was no reason for him to be nervous.

"Greetings fair maidens," Kurt said grandiosely, and a couple of the Beauties giggled. "My name is Kurt, but in the circus I was known as the Incredible Nightcrawler. I performed acts of acrobatic daring on a nightly basis."

Going by his brightly coloured, flamboyant clothes, Kitty was fully prepared to believe he had been in the circus.

"I have since left the circus," Kurt went on, "and I am now studying Theology."

"Theo-what?" Tabitha asked.

"Theology. I study Christianity."

"Oh...right."

Kurt paused, feeling like he should add something more. "I hope that one of you lovely ladies would find it in your heart to shepherd this here poor man in the ways of social prowess. Uhh...I'll just meet you outside, I guess."

There was some gentle laughter as Kurt scurried from the room. Kurt tried not to feel like he had screwed up at the end there.

"He's cute," Amanda said. "Can I have him? You mind?"

"No, go right ahead," Kitty replied.

"Yay."

Amanda stood and made her way out the door. She met Kurt at the base of the staircase.

"Hi, I'm Amanda," she said.

"Hi," Kurt replied shyly.

"Wanna go pick out our room?"

"Yeah... that might be a good idea, huh?"

The pair made their way up the stairs and headed down one of the halls. On the way they passed by one room that was marked "Reserved".

"Okay," said Kurt, scratching his head. "I wonder what it's reserved for?"

"Oh who cares?" Amanda replied. "I'm sure we'll find out later if it's important."

x-x-x

"Hi," said Scott, looking at the Beauties through his red quartz glasses. "My name's Scott. I'm an astrophysicist."

"What's that?" asked Jubilee.

"It's the study of the physics of astronomical objects," Scott explained. "I'm also a pilot and I make model aeroplanes."

There was a pause and then Scott turned and left.

"Little stiff, wasn't he?" Jean said with a sniff.

"Yeah," Tabitha agreed with a giggle. "I think he needs some loosening up, right? And who better than me!"

No one objected as Tabitha bounded from the room.

x-x-x

Rahne walked into the room, looked at everyone, her eyes falling on the three attractive guys in turn. She licked her lips nervously.

"Hi," Kitty said encouragingly. "I'm Kitty, and you are?"

"Rahne," she replied tentatively. "Umm, ahh... I'm studying to be a veterinarian. Oh and I can shape shift into a wolf."

"Wild thing huh?" Pietro asked.

Rahne stammered and blushed furiously. "Umm, bye."

Gambit chuckled as she dashed from the room.

"Dibs," said Pietro and zipped out of the room before anyone could blink.

Gambit and Lance looked at each other. Lance just shrugged.

x-x-x

"G'day mates," said Pyro as he played with a lighter. "The name's Pyro. I'm a bookworm and I write fantasy and science fiction novels for a crust."

There was silence as the Beauties regarded the shaggy-haired Australian, in his bright orange and red clothes.

"I also love to burn things," Pyro went on, "as you may have guessed from the name. Fire is my greatest love. I love her."

He seemed to notice that everyone was staring at him.

"Ahem, yes, well... Thanks for listening to me," he said.

Pyro departed as quickly as he arrived and Amara clapped her hands and giggled.

"I love his accent!" she exclaimed. "I want him."

Amara was up and out of the room before anyone else could get a word in.

x-x-x

Piotr lifted a nervous hand to the door. It opened slowly, he swallowed, peered inside, immediately freaked out and shut the door again. Why was he doing this? There may have only been four of the girls left but they were all gorgeous and he was a nervous wreck. Knowing he had to go through with it, Piotr took a deep breath and opened the door again. This time he got as far as one foot through the door before he freaked out once again. He didn't get a chance to work up the nerve a third time, as Gambit, feeling sorry for him, opened the door up wide and held out a hand.

"Bonjour mon ami," Gambit said, holding out his hand to him. "I'm Remy, and you are?"

"Piotr," he replied, finding it easier to talk to Gambit and shake his offered hand than to face the girls.

"Pleasure to meet you," Gambit said, drawing Piotr inside and shutting the door behind him. "I'm a self-professed playboy, what about you?"

Well, it would hardly do to admit on national television that he was a world-class thief.

"Oh, uhh, I'm an artist," Piotr replied.

"Painting, sculpture...?"

"Paintings," Piotr said, finding himself feeling a little calmer, like the edge of his anxiety had been taken off. "Mostly landscapes but I prefer portraits. On canvas."

"Love to see your work sometime," Gambit replied cheerfully.

"Oh, uhh, s-sure," Pior responded. "Uhh..."

He dared to look around the room.

"Thank you," he stammered out and promptly bolted.

"Wow," said Wanda. "He was really nervous."

"Is it just me, or did he look green?" asked Jubilee.

"That was nice of you to give him a little morale support, Remy," Jean said.

Gambit shrugged.

"It was either that or wait for him to work up the nerve to walk in here by himself," Gambit replied. "And at the rate things were going, that was going to take awhile. So, which one of you femmes wants the challenge of turning the mouse into a man?"

Kitty giggled.

"I think he's sweet," she said. "I'll take him."

x-x-x

X-23 entered the room and stood at ease with her eyes firmly planted on the back wall.

"I am Laura," she informed them. "I am trained in multiple forms of martial arts, weapons, fluent in French and Japanese and I excel in maths, modern history, biology..."

The Beauties listened, a little weirded out while X-23 rattled off her achievements in a very solider-like manner.

"So what do you do for fun, chérie?" asked Gambit.

X-23 blinked and then answered "Chess".

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Gambit asked, and then gave her a mock salute. "You're dismissed."

X-23 gave a brisk nod and departed. Everyone looked at Gambit who was laughing.

"You're dismissed?" Jean repeated disapprovingly.

"So Lance," Gambit said, ignoring Jean's comment. "Do you want the military brat, or do you want to take a gamble on the last fille?"

"Fille?" Lance asked, frowning.

"Girl," Gambit said. "French for girl."

"Oh, right. Well, umm, I'll take the gamble, I guess," Lance replied.

"All right then," Gambit replied.

He slid from his chair and sauntered out the door. X-23 was standing at attention at the base of the stairs. This was either going to be lots of fun, or it was seriously going to suck.

"Bonjour ma chérie," Gambit said suavely, taking X-23's hand and kissing it, much to her confusion, based on the puzzled expression on her face. "My name is Remy."

X-23 gave another nod. "We should select our room."

"Of course," Gambit replied, slipping his arm about her waist as they started up the stairs.

"Why is your hand on the small of my back?" X-23 asked.

"I'm being a gentleman and helping you up the stairs," Gambit replied.

"I do not require assistance."

"I can see that."

"Then why do you persist?"

"Because I'm a gentleman."

"I do not understand."

Gambit chuckled as they reached the top of the stairs. "I believe that's the whole point of you being here, chère."

x-x-x

"Hi my name's Fred," Fred said awkwardly to the slowly shrinking group of Beauties. "Uhh, I'm a professional gamer."

"A _professional_ gamer?" Wanda repeated sceptically. "What, you're a pool shark or something?"

"No," Fred shook his head. "I play video games. Halo mostly. I enter gaming tournaments to win prizes and stuff."

"Oh... right..."

"Umm, yeah," Fred said and scratched his head. "Uhh, I guess that's it. Bye."

The girls looked at each other as Fred departed. Jean sighed into the silence that followed.

"I'll take him," she said resignedly.

x-x-x

"Hi ladies," Bobby said. "I'm Bobby and I'm doing an accounting major."

"So you're really good at math?" Jubilee asked.

"Yep," Bobby replied proudly. "I also collect comic books."

Awkward silence.

"Well, thank you," said Wanda.

"Oh, right," said Bobby and he departed.

"Well," said Jubilee. "I really suck at maths, so I claim him."

"Go right ahead," said Wanda.

x-x-x

Rogue stepped into the room and Lance raised his eyebrows at the sight of her dressed head to toe in black and purple with pale skin, a studded dog collar, and heavy, dark makeup.

"I'm Rogue," she said. "I'm a test pilot, I have a degree in aerospace engineering. I'm a motorcycle buff and I play guitar. I'm also untouchable. As in, do not touch my skin if you want to live."

"Come again?" Lance asked.

"I can't control my mutation," Rogue said shortly. "Even a brief touch will—at best—make you dizzy. I can and _have_ put people into comas before, sometimes for years."

Rogue stopped silent, then turned on her heel and left. Lance looked at Wanda, who shrugged. With a sigh, Lance walked out.

"Hi, I'm Lance," he said as he met her at the stairs.

"Hi," Rogue replied shortly. "We have a room reserved."

"We do?" Lance asked as they started up to the next floor.

"Yep," Rogue drawled. "Had to make sure I got a room with separate beds."

"Oh. Right."

x-x-x

"Hey babycakes, I'm Toad," Toad said as the final Geek to enter the room. "I build robots."

Wanda looked over Toad and fought to keep from turning up her nose. Toad babbled on some more about the robots he liked to build but all Wanda could think about was how desperately this guy needed a bath. Finally he left and Wanda took a deep breath of fresh air before going out to introduce herself. She had a feeling she was going to be spending a lot of time outside and upwind.

* * *

><p>Partners and rooms now picked, the Beauties and the Geeks moved in their gear and unpacked. An exploration of the house was then required: locating the kitchen and the dining room, other living areas all the bathrooms and of course, going outside where the pool and the hot tub were. Rogue made certain to inform the other Beauties of her 'no touching' situation, as she had the Geeks earlier.<p>

To celebrate their first night in the mansion, it was deemed that a pool party was necessary. There was champagne and the only meal the residents could expect to have made for them outside of a challenge for the duration of their stay.

Much to the appreciation of the male residents, the female beauties all came out in their bikinis, Rahne wore a one-piece, feeling rather self conscious about the whole thing. She felt a little inadequate next to the female Beauties. Rogue and X-23 didn't bother changing at all, instead they engaged in a game of chess by the poolside.

All the guys wore board shorts, with the exceptions of Fred, Piotr, Pyro, and Toad, who stayed in their normal clothes. Kurt turned out to be the hairiest Geek of the lot, and between that and his pointed ears, Amanda and Kitty affectionately nicknamed him "Fuzzy Elf."

Bobby eyes the male Beauties with envy. He worked out. Occasionally. Okay, never. It was obvious that Gambit, Lance and Pietro worked out a lot though. Lance, being the body builder, was noticeably larger than his fellow Beauties. Gambit had a few scars across his body, but somehow they seemed sexy rather than blemishes. Bobby sighed in disappointment as he watched the Beauties flirt with each other and came to the conclusion that the only way any of the male Geeks was going to have a chance with the female Beauties was if they got rid of all the male Beauties first.

"Hey you deux," Gambit said, leaning over the chess board, a glass of champagne in his hand. "This is a party."

"You play games at parties don't you?" Rogue retorted.

"Oui, but not geeky games like chess," Gambit replied.

"What games do you play at parties?" X-23 asked.

"Truth or dare!" Jubilee declared giddily.

"Spin the Bottle?" Rogue suggested, throwing Jubilee a dark look.

Gambit laughed. "I'll kiss you, chère. Don't need to play a game for that."

"Uh huh," Rogue drawled as she started floating up in the air, much to the amazement of everyone watching. "So, what are your mutant powers, sugah? Or is it just the eyes?"

"I was not aware that you could levitate," X-23 said.

"Four years ago I completely stripped my best friend of her powers," Rogue said coolly, her eyes on Gambit's glowing ones. "It was an accident, but it put her into a coma for three years. Still interested in kissing me?"

Gambit reached out, took Rogue's hand and pressed it to his lips.

"Tada," he said with a smirk.

Rogue ripped her hand away, stepped back down to the floor and stalked back into the house. Gambit watched her admiringly.

"Oh, she's going to be fun," Gambit said gleefully.

"Fun?" Jubilee said. "She's freaky."

"She needs a good makeover," said Amanda. "Or rather a make-under."

"Yeah," Kitty said. "Like, could she have any more caked on? Seriously."

"Oooh, Rahne," Tabitha said. "We should make you up."

The look on Rahne's face was reminiscent of a deer caught in headlights.

* * *

><p>Gambit had never been a heavy sleeper so when X-23 got out of bed and started moving about at five o'clock in the morning, he had no choice but to wake up. He took a moment to orient to himself to the unfamiliar surroundings and finally focused on X-23 getting ready. Gambit glanced at the clock and promptly swore at the early hour.<p>

X-23 glanced at him, but wasn't really sure what the right response was supposed to be. So she said nothing and went about her daily routine, starting with her warm ups.

"Do you have to do that right now?" Gambit grumbled from his bed.

"Yes," she replied.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"It is three minutes past five."

"Yeah, exactly. I'm trying to sleep here," he said, then sighed in aggravation, knowing there was no getting back to sleep now. "You know what? Forget it."

X-23 continued with her exercises in perplexed silence as Gambit got out of bed and stormed into the bathroom. By the time Gambit emerged, X-23 was gone. Being awake now, Gambit did a few exercises of his own, then took a shower before going about his morning primping. That chest hair didn't wax itself.

Finally, Gambit headed down to the kitchen to make breakfast. He figured since he was up so early he may as well make something for everyone. He sniffed with disdain at the pre-packaged pancake mix that was in the cupboard, and promptly went about making a nice big batch of pancake mix from scratch.

"Wow," said Jubilee when she came down some time later, "you can cook, huh?"

"Whatever gave it away?" Gambit asked with a grin as he gestured to the pancakes. "Help yourself."

"Thanks."

Jubilee was not the only one appreciative of Gambit's efforts, even X-23, whom Gambit had half expected to complain about lack of nutritional value or something. Instead, she heaped up her pancakes with a lot of cream and maple syrup, and some choc-drops one of the other girls had located in the kitchen.

Then Rogue appeared and the dining room went quiet.

"Bonjour chérie," Gambit greeted as soon as he realised the reason for the silence. "Pancakes?"

Rogue looked at him coolly, seemingly unperturbed by the reaction of the room.

"Sure," she said finally, taking a seat by the bench. "Thanks."

"No problem," Gambit replied as he slid a plate over to her. "Maple syrup? Whipped cream?"

"Just maple syrup," she said.

Gambit passed her the bottle. "Bon appetit."

Rogue inclined her head and the room went about their chatter. Gambit eyes narrowed as he realised that Lance and everyone else who entered the room after Rogue made sure they didn't sit anywhere near her. He wondered if that was a normal reaction for Rogue.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until after breakfast that Wanda finally had a chance to pull Pietro aside privately.<p>

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Same thing you are," Pietro replied. "The money. And to pick up chicks, which, okay, I'm guessing you're not here for that—"

"What the hell, Pietro?" Wanda snapped at him, shaking her finger. "You _knew_ I was auditioning for the show! Why do you always have to spoil everything?"

"Hey, if you don't ask..."

"I hate you."

"I hate you more."

* * *

><p>After a morning of mucking around, the Beauties and the Geeks gathered in the study. There were a couple of lounges, and some tall stools had been brought in to provide extra seats. On the desk behind which Spyke stood was a pile of books and a couple of discs.<p>

"So," said Spyke after everyone had settled themselves, "how did you guys enjoy your first night in the mansion?"

He nodded with a smile on his face as the affirmatives came his way.

"Ready for your first challenge?" Spyke asked and then grinned at the enthusiastic response. "All right, Beauties, today you'll get to learn all about politics and economics."

"Eco-what?" asked Jubilee

"Economics," Spyke repeated. "And pay attention because you're going to have to give a speech on a specific topic to be given at random."

There was some grumbling amongst the Beauties.

"Geeks, you too will be standing up in front of an audience," Sypke went on, "doing karaoke."

A mix of laughter, groans and whimpering followed

"Okay, these are your study materials," Spyke went on, grinning at the reaction as he gestured to a number of books and folders. "Good luck."

x-x-x

"Performing in front of crowd doesn't bother me," Kurt said with a sigh as the music came to an end. "It's just a shame I can't sing."

Amanda chuckled and pressed the back button on the CD play in their room.

"But you've got the moves," she said. "And if no one else can sing, then it'll probably come down to who puts on the best performance."

"I hope so."

x-x-x

Amara looked at her books with irritation.

"What do you say we burn these?" she asked.

"Please, don't toy with me," Pyro replied.

x-x-x

"Don't stand there so stiff," Tabitha insisted, glaring at Scott while her hips rocked to the beat of the music. "It's karaoke, you're supposed to have fun with it."

"I'm not much of a dancer," Scott said. "Or a singer either."

"Whatever," Tabitha dismissed as she rubbed her body against his in her dancing. "If you act boring you will be boring. Have fun and everyone else will have fun too."

x-x-x

Gambit listened as X-23 attempted to sing.

"Uhh chère," he said finally. "You do know you're supposed to sing the words, not speak them?"

"I thought that was what I was doing," X-23 said, giving Gambit a perplexed look.

"Your diction is very good, but when you sing you don't chop off your words like that. Here, let me demonstrate."

x-x-x

"Ugh," Amanda said at the dining table with the girls, snapping the book shut. "My head is swimming."

"I know what you mean," Jubilee sighed. "It's just going way over my head."

"Let's take this to the pool, shall we ladies?" Jean said.

"Sounds like a good plan to me," said Kitty.

x-x-x

Rogue was not impressed when she came out of the bathroom to discover that Lance had taken off. She'd just spent all that time helping Lance with his—while he spent most of his time sitting at the far end of the room—and now that it was her turn, he'd taken off. If anything, it was more important that Lance help her, seeing as the Beauties had been told they would be joining the Geeks onstage.

Rogue sighed and put the CD on. The song was Dazzler's "Mojoworld." Rogue was a big Dazzler fan, so she already knew all the words. Rogue wasn't a dancer though. If she could play her guitar rather than dance she would, but she wasn't allowed.

x-x-x

"Ugh," Wanda said, half sitting, half collapsing down next to Tabitha at the table. "I'm so glad to be away from Toad's screeching. Actually I'm just glad to be away from Toad, period."

"Ha, yeah," Tabitha agreed as she glanced up from her books. "You have my sympathies on so many levels."

"Appreciated."

x-x-x

Piotr was glad that Kitty was off studying with the other girls. He felt much more secure singing alone in the bedroom.

x-x-x

"So, how's it going?" Bobby asked as Toad came hopping into the kitchen.

"I think I've got this," Toad said confidently.

"Yep, me too."

x-x-x

"You should do some sexy dance moves," Pietro advised. "It's a sexy song, you should dance the same way."

"Oh...okay," Rahne said. "How do I do that?"

x-x-x

"Hello ladies," Lance said, swaggering out to the pool. "Mind if I join you?"

"Oh please do," Kitty replied.

...

The following day the group was taken to a public hall, full of people, for the Beauties challenge. On stage were two podiums and Spyke announced to the crowd and the contestants that the Beauties would be debating. Backstage, the Beauties regarded each other anxiously. In the front row, to the left of the judges, the Geeks looked apprehensive.

"First up, Kitty for the affirmative and Jubilee for the negative," Spyke said as the respective girls took their places on stage. "Your topic: Capitalism is better than Socialism."

Piotr and Bobby glanced at each other. Kitty looked out at the crowd and swallowed.

"Uhh, well," she said tentatively, "I think that..."

x-x-x

"... and then all the adults will lose their jobs to like, kids who don't know any better and will work really cheap, and I don't know about you, but I really don't want some little kid cutting my hair," said Amanda during her debate with Pietro.

Rahne smiled encouragingly at Kurt. She wished Pietro was doing better in the debate. Unfortunately, he talked so fast no one was really sure what he was saying, including the judges. When it came time for her rebuttal, Amanda had no idea what she was supposed to say.

x-x-x

Fred cringed and Pyro tried to resist the urge to bury his head in shame while Jean and Amara debated whether they should have abolish the death penalty or not. Amara seemed to be confused about what side she was arguing, which in turn, confused Jean and they ended up debating the opposite of what they were supposed to.

x-x-x

Scott watched in delight as Tabitha and Gambit debated onstage. It was obvious to Scott that Gambit hadn't studied as much as he should have; he was arguing the negative so badly, he was practically feeding Tabitha lines. It came as no surprise to Scott that Tabitha won their debate and he had high hopes for the rest of the challenge.

x-x-x

Wanda and Lance debated whether cosmetic surgery should be banned. Although Lance was supposed to be arguing that it should be banned, his arguments were weak, no doubt because he didn't really believe it should be.

x-x-x

At the end, the rest of the Beauties joined Wanda and Lance on stage.

"All right," said Spyke, "Judges, your decision."

"First I'd like to congratulate all of you for getting up there and giving it a go," said the head judge. "But there was one of you who did very well; you were clear, concise and you successfully managed to counter your opponent's arguments. With that in mind, we declared the winner to be...Tabitha."

Tabitha squealed and jumped up and down on the spot. Kurt nudged Scott.

"Go congratulate her," Kurt said.

"Oh, right," Scott said.

He stood and headed over to the stage, stepped up and held his hand out to Tabitha. Tabitha ignored his hand and jumped up on him instead, arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Scott needed to take a few moments to orient himself so he didn't fall backwards off the stage. Chuckling followed.

"Okay, Beauties, if you would like to sit down, and Geeks, if you would like to go backstage," said Sypke. "The karaoke challenge will begin shortly."

x-x-x

Bobby was under no delusions about his ability to sing. So what he lacked in talent, he made up for by clowning around with Jubilee in their dancing. At one point Bobby started ad libbing some dance moves and Jubilee laughed so much she couldn't dance any more.

x-x-x

Fred sang while doing his version of dancing, which mostly came in the form of wiggling his butt every now and then. Jean danced nearby, and hoped that her smooth moves and the fact that Fred could sing in tune, if nothing else, would give them a chance.

x-x-x

Rogue smiled at the applause she got and tucked her hair behind her ear. She managed a thank you before departing the stage with Lance ten steps behind her. He had spent most of the performance just bobbing away to the beat while Rogue didn't bother dancing at all. It just wasn't her thing. Hopefully, the fact that she had the best voice so far would count for something.

x-x-x

Piotr stepped onto the stage and swallowed hard, seeing all the faces in the audience. The music began, but his mouth felt dry and the words refused to come out. Kitty did a few ballet moves beside him, wishing she could voice something encouraging, but the Beauties weren't allowed to talk (or sing) during the performance. He finally found his voice somewhere during the first chorus, and demonstrated quite a sweet sound.

x-x-x

Kurt and Amanda turned their dance into a story. Amanda hoped that Kurt's clever theatrics would be enough to counter his lack of singing ability.

x-x-x

Despite his efforts to the contrary, X-23 continued speaking the words rather than singing them. Her dancing was pretty stiff too, although Gambit did do his best to disguise that.

x-x-x

Wanda tried very hard not to go through the entire performance with a wince on her face at Toad's screeching. There was no hiding her look of disgust when Toad decided to improvise during the instrumental with some tongue action.

x-x-x

Pyro was somewhat disappointed he wasn't allowed to use pyrotechnics in his performance. He was sure he would have felt a lot more confident with the flames by his sides, especially as they would distract everyone from what he knew was bad singing. Amara was disappointed for similar reasons. Still, they had fun.

x-x-x

Rahne felt like a nervous wreck on stage. She felt really weird dancing the raunchy moves Pietro had taught her, even his he was dancing just as provocatively beside her. She knew her face went bright red when she got a couple of wolf whistles, including one from Gambit.

x-x-x

Scott stood stiffly on stage, feeling completely out of his element. He knew he couldn't sing. He was just making a fool of himself in public and it didn't help that Tabitha's dancing involved rubbing up against his body every now and then. That was just awkward.

x-x-x

"Okay the votes are in," said Spyke. "The audience has decided. And the winner is, with fifty-two percent of the vote...Rahne."

Rahne clapped her hands over her mouth and her eyes lit up with joy. She and Pietro walked back onstage and Pietro whirled her around in excitement.

"Congratulations," said Spyke. "Rahne, you and Pietro, and Tabitha and Scott, have now won immunity. You have also won the ability to send two teams into the elimination room tomorrow night."

* * *

><p>The following day, while all the teams were studying just in case they were sent to the elimination room, Rahne, Pietro, Tabitha and Scott got together to discuss who they actually would send to the elimination room.<p>

"Well," said Scott thoughtfully, "strategically we should probably consider how everyone performed during the last challenge and—"

"Forget that strategic nonsense," Tabitha cut in. "I say we vote out Wanda and Toad. No offence to Wanda or anything, but Toad's stinky and I hate being in the same room with him."

"_You_ hate being in the same room with him?" Rahne asked. "Do you have any idea how good a wolf's sense of smell is? I'm afraid to morph!"

"If we're going to do this on an 'I don't like' basis, then I guess we're getting rid of Rogue and Lance," said Pietro. "Rogue's a freak."

"Aww, do we really have to get rid of Lance?" asked Tabitha. "He's hot."

"_He's_ hot?" Pietro asked challengingly.

"You're hot too. I'm all for all the hot guys staying in the house," Tabitha said with a nod.

"Nice to know. I still want to get rid of Rogue. And Wan—Toad. I want to get rid of Toad."

"Well, if you send Wanda, Toad, Rogue and Lance to elimination," Scott said as he picked up pen and paper, "you're only going to get rid of one team, not both."

"And the team that comes back might holding a grudge," Rahne added cautiously.

"Blah," Tabitha dismissed.

"I'm just saying," Scott went on, "that if you really want to get rid of, say, Wanda and Toad—"

"Yes!" Rahne said.

"Definitely," Tabitha added.

"No argument here," Pietro said.

"—then, strategically, our best bet would be to put them up against a team that we think would beat them," Scott said. "I think we should go over the performances of everyone during the competition and decide who we think would have the best chance."

* * *

><p>"Thanks so much for helping me study," Wanda said to Gambit. "I just know I'm going to end up in the elimination room, and I don't want to be sent home."<p>

"Of course you don't, chère," Gambit replied. "I don't either."

"No one does," Wanda said and then sighed. "I really want to be able to make the most of this experience and I just...I just had to get stuck with the guy who attracts flies."

Gambit chuckled sympathetically. "And eats them."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

"Come on, let's get started."

They opened up their books and began going through the study materials together. Gambit was sure that Wanda's assessment about being sent to the elimination room was quite correct, especially considering that—at this stage of the game—there was very little differentiating one team from another as far as ability was concerned. He had no idea who else would be sent up, but in any case, Gambit felt that the best strategy was to make friends with any team that could be considered an 'underdog'. After all, people would be more inclined to send people they didn't like as much to the elimination room over those they were friends with.

Gambit knew the material a lot better than he pretended to. It had been so easy to twist the debate, leaving open huge holes in his argument just for Tabitha to pounce on. He had no doubts about his ability to survive elimination in the event that he and X-23 got sent there. Gambit wasn't entirely sure what the odds were they'd be the second team. What he could do, was help Wanda study. If she and Toad lost elimination, then they lost, and no harm was done. If they won, however, then he and X-23 had gained a potential ally.

* * *

><p>Shortly after dinner—another culinary delight from Gambit—the housemates gathered in their pairs on the stairs. Tabitha and Scott, and Rahne and Pietro stood on either side of Spyke.<p>

"Tabitha," said Spyke, "you won the debate challenge, granting you and Scott immunity and the chance to send one team to the elimination room."

Tabitha nodded solemnly.

"Rahne, you won the karaoke challenge," Spyke went on, "also gaining immunity for yourself and Pietro, and the chance to send one team to the elimination room."

Rahne took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Rahne," Spyke went on, "who have you and Pietro chosen to send to the elimination room?"

Rahne looked at Pietro. He shrugged.

"Well," Rahne said tentatively, "we chose Wanda and Toad."

Toad looked crestfallen while Wanda pressed her lips tightly together. Stupid twin brother always spoiling things for her.

"What made you decide on Wanda and Toad?" Spyke asked.

Rahne's throat went dry. He wasn't really going to make her say it, was he?

"We just don't think they fit in with the rest of us," Pietro said.

"That's crap," Wanda snapped at him. "You just want to get rid of us because Toad smells like a pig pen."

Toad bowed his head and stared at the floor in front of him.

"Toad?" Spyke asked. "Did you have anything you wanted to say?"

Toad just shook his head.

"Tabitha," Spyke said when there was no other response. "Who have you and Scott chosen to send to the elimination room?"

"This was a really hard decision because we've hardly gotten to know each other, and there was so many of you to choose from," Tabitha said. "We chose Bobby and Jubilee."

Tabitha avoided looking at Jubilee and Bobby's disappointed faces.

"Why Bobby and Jubilee?" asked Spyke.

"We thought that they did fairly well at their challenges," Scott said. "Bobby seems to be pretty outgoing, and Jubilee did alright at the debate. We figure you two might turn out to be stiff competition later on."

"Bobby, Jubilee," said Spyke. "Anything you'd like to say?"

"Well, I guess I can't blame you for wanting to eliminate us if you think we're going to be good competition," said Bobby. "Plus, I get that you guys have to nominate someone so...yeah, it's cool."

"Speak for yourself," Jubilee muttered.

"Jubilee?" Spyke queried.

"I just... I don't want to go home."

"Neither do I," Wanda put in.

"Wanda and Toad," Spyke said before any arguing could start. "Bobby and Jubilee. Go pack your things, say your good byes, and meet me in the elimination room in an hour."

* * *

><p>One hour later, the bulk of the housemates gathered in the first bedroom at the top of the stairs while Bobby, Jubilee, Wanda and Toad made their way downstairs. The cameras filmed as Bobby and Toad opened the doors to the elimination room as directed for the women, and closed them again as they filed inside.<p>

At the other end of the room there was a TV screen with the Beauty and the Geek logo on it. In front of the TV were four folded over pieces of cardboard with numbers written on them. Spyke was standing to the side. The couple stood at the indicated placed on the floor.

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Spyke. "Welcome to the elimination room. You will each be asked two questions about your areas of study. The winning team gets to stay in the house. The losing team goes home. Beauties, you will go first. Geeks, please go to the viewing room."

Spyke waited until Bobby and Toad had departed before he continued.

"Beauties, your questions will be all about politics and economics," he said, then gestured to the four pieces of cardboard. "These are your questions. Wanda, which number do you pick?"

Wanda took a deep breath. "Four."

Spyke lifted the one numbered "4" and unfolded it to read the question.

"Four," Spyke repeated and then read aloud the question: "What is privatisation?"

Wanda was silent for a moment.

"It's the transfer of ownership from the public sector to the private sector," Wanda said.

"Wanda," Spyke said, deliberately drawing it out as he was supposed to do, "that is correct."

Wanda breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jubilee," Spyke said. "Which number do you choose?"

"Uhh, number one, please," Jubilee replied.

Spyke picked up the card marked "1", and repeated the number before reading it: "What is a monopoly?"

Jubilee froze.

"Come on Jubilee," said Bobby where he sat in the viewing room next to Toad. "You know this."

"Umm..." she said nervously, "it's a...a board game?"

Toad chuckled. "She should get that one just for being a smartass."

Unfortunately, Spyke had to tell her the answer was incorrect. Wanda and Jubilee both succeeded in getting their second questions correct, and then they swapped places with the boys.

"Geeks, your questions will be about music," Spyke said when everything was ready and new questions had been put in place. "Toad, Wanda managed to secure a lead of two to one. Which number do you pick?"

"Two, please," Toad replied, bouncing nervously on the spot.

"You picked number two," Spyke said, picking up the card. "This is a visual question. Who is this artist?"

The logo on the TV screen promptly changed to a photo of a black-haired woman wearing black leather boots and pants, a small white shirt that showed off her stomach and a black leather jacket. There was an electric guitar in her hands.

"Oh umm, I know this one!" Toad said. "It's umm, that girl that sings the song..."

In the viewing room, Wanda buried her head in her hand and Jubilee patted her back sympathetically.

"Lila Cheney," Toad blurted out.

There was a pause from Spyke and then: "That is correct."

Toad bounced happily from foot to foot.

"Bobby," said Spyke. "The score is now three to one. You have to get both questions right, and Toad has to get his next question wrong for you to tie. If you get this question wrong, Toad and Wanda will win, and you and Jubilee will have to leave the mansion."

Bobby nodded. "I'll take number three, please."

* * *

><p>Upstairs the housemates waited anxiously for the arrival of the winning team. There had been idle conversation at first, but as the time increased they'd become quieter and quieter. Gambit was wishing he'd brought some playing cards right now, as he really wanted something to busy his hands. However, prior to arriving, Gambit had decided that knowing card tricks was more of a Geek thing than a Beauty thing, and hadn't brought any with him. It was playing to a stereotype, he knew, but then he was also pretending to be a lot stupider than he really was, and didn't want to fall out of character.<p>

Most of the girls were gathered on the bed, and the guys were standing around. Fred sat on a nearby chair, Gambit leaned against the wall, and notably Rogue stood apart from the rest of the group.

Then they heard the clacking of heels coming up the stairs. There was quiet again, no doubt as the woman wearing the heels crossed the carpet. All eyes were on the door handle as it turned, and a bad smell wafted inside as the door opened wide. Wanda smirked triumphantly in the doorway as Toad bounded inside.

"Hey yo," Toad said. "We did it!"

* * *

><p>At the same time, Bobby and Jubilee were outside of the mansion, sitting in front of a camera crew.<p>

"I'm pretty disappointed we have to leave," said Bobby, "although I guess someone had to be the first to go."

"Shame it was us though," said Jubilee, and then turned to face her partner. "Bobby, it's been nice knowing you. I'm sorry I didn't have the chance to get to know you better."

"Same," Bobby agreed.


	2. Episode 2

**AN: **Those of you who read the comics will probably figure out that I drew from those for the Geek's challenge for everyone I could. Some characters, like Pyro, sadly don't have much of a romantic history to draw from. Unfortunately (or fortunately) other characters, like Rahne, have a rich**, **convoluted history ripe for the picking.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 2<strong>

The following morning found Kitty perched on the dining room table with her legs crossed one over the other. Kurt was sitting next to her, trying not to get caught staring at her smooth, toned legs.

"... and I was so worried about the test I bought this pyramid hat that was supposed to increase brain power," Kitty was saying.

"Did it work?" Kurt asked.

"Yep," Kitty said proudly.

"Cool. Do you still have the hat?"

"Nah," Kitty replied with a wave of her hand. "I threw it out when I realised how stupid I looked."

Kurt laughed and Lance strode in.

"I'm so glad to be rid of Rogue for awhile," he said.

"For awhile?" Kitty asked. "You weren't exactly hanging around her all that much to begin with."

"Where is she?" asked Kurt.

"Playing chess with Laura," Lance said, pulling a face. "Why she hangs around with that freak, I don't know."

"Perhaps Rogue wants to give Laura a chance," Kurt said.

"Umm, no Rogue's the freak, not Laura," Lance said as if Kurt was some kind of idiot.

"It's only Rogue's skin that's dangerous, and most of that is covered up," Kurt pointed out. "Besides, I sincerely doubt that the producers would have let her on the show if we were in danger."

"Yeah, well you aren't sharing a room with her."

"Boys, boys," Kitty said. "Let's not fight, shall we? We've got time before we're supposed to get our next challenge, who's up for a swim?"

"Sure," said Lance.

"Sounds great," said Kurt.

* * *

><p>"I don't get why this game is so interesting," said Pietro, sitting by Gambit who was watching Rogue and X-23 play chess.<p>

"Neither do I," Gambit replied. "But imagine—if you knew the rules—just how good you'd be at speed chess."

Pietro laughed.

"If you don't understand why the game is interesting," Rogue asked while she moved her knight, "why are you watching?"

"What?" Gambit asked. "This is supposed to be a learning experience, no?"

"If you are interested in learning how to play chess," said X-23, "then perhaps you would like to play a game after Rogue and I are done with this one."

"Yeah, sure," Gambit replied lazily. "Why not?"

"Great," Pietro said, zipping up out of his seat to X-23's other side and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Then while Rogue and Remy are playing, how about you and I get to know each other a little better?"

"Why?" X-23 asked. "Should you not be getting to know Rahne better? She is your partner."

"I've been getting to know her better for days," Pietro said.

"Wow," said Gambit with a slight grin, "you really do work fast, don't you?"

"Heh," Pietro replied with a smirk. "Rahne's playing some weird card game with the other geeks."

"Cards?" Gambit repeated.

"Yeah, some magic game."

"Magic: The Gathering," Rogue said.

"Oh" Gambit said, trying not to sound disappointed.

"Anyway," Pietro cut in pointedly, his mouth right near X-23's ear. "So, Laura, all the other Beauties are in the pool, you wanna join them?"

"No," X-23 replied.

"Aww, why not? I bet you'd look really hot in a bikini."

"The pool is of a size that is insufficient for swimming laps when occupied by more than two people," X-23 replied. "Additionally, the time required to finish this game, change clothes twice and shower after would only allow us twenty minutes of swimming time in order to make a punctual arrival to our debriefing."

Rogue snickered as Pietro pulled a face.

* * *

><p>At the required time, everyone gathered in the study. Sitting on the desk was a pile of books, a statuette of a couple of bears hugging, and a calculator. Spyke waited until everyone had settled.<p>

"Good morning," said Spyke.

"Morning," everyone replied in chorus.

"While you were in school, I think it's safe to say that while the Geeks were busy getting good marks in mathematics, the Beauties were developing their relationships," Spyke said. "For this next challenge, Beauties, you will be studying math; and Geeks, you will learning about relationships. These are your study materials. Good luck."

* * *

><p>Amara opened up the maths book and stared at the first page. Pyro sat next to her on the bed that they shared and opened up his own book.<p>

"Ugh," Amara said. "This is hurting my brain. I'm going to take a nap."

Pyro frowned. "But you only just opened the book—"

"Whatever," Amara said and put the book aside.

Pyro watched, a little confused as Amara put the book aside, turned over in the bed and got under the covers. It took him a moment to realise that he was really seeing what he was seeing, at which point he decided the best thing to do was to just walk away. Book in hand, he left the bedroom and made his way down to the dining room. Wanda was seated at the table.

"Mind if join you?" he asked.

Wanda looked up and smiled at him.

"No, go ahead," she said, gesturing to a nearby chair. "Where's Amara?"

"Having a nap," Pyro replied as he sat down beside her. "Apparently the first page of the text book broke her brain."

Wanda laughed.

"What about Toad?" Pyro asked, placing his book on the table and flipping it open.

"He's studying alone in our bedroom," Wanda said. "I told him to keep the windows open."

"Heh, I would too," Pyro replied.

Wanda grinned. "You're a writer, right?"

"Yup," Pyro said proudly.

"What do you write about?"

x-x-x

Gambit sat beside X-23 on the bed as they went through her book.

"So," Gambit said when they opened up to the section on dating. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

There was a long pause, and then she replied: "I do not know."

That was not the answer Gambit had been expecting to his whimsical question, and he too was silent for a moment before replying: "But there is someone you have, ahh, romantic feelings for?"

"I do not want to talk about it," X-23 replied firmly.

"Uh huh," Gambit said, then eyed her for a moment. "It's not Pietro, is it?"

"No."

"Good to know," he said.

Gambit didn't really think too highly of his fellow male Beauties. Pietro had been flirting all over the place with all the women. Okay, he had too, but he was different. He was only being friendly; Pietro was clearly after something more than that. Lance had been flirting around a bit too, but with a more select group of women. Gambit's main beef with Lance was his attitude towards Rogue. Sure, a lot of their housemates were avoiding Rogue, but Lance was her teammate.

"Well," Gambit went on, "I'm supposed to be helping you learn about relationships anyway. If you change your mind about wanting to talk about this maybe-boyfriend of yours, I'd be more than happy to listen. Never know, I might even be able to help you."

X-23 kept her eyes planted on the page in front of her. She really didn't want to talk about Julian "Hellion" Keller. She had no idea how to even _begin_ explaining how she felt about him, even if she had wanted to.

"We need to read this," she said.

x-x-x

Scott headed out to the pool where a number of the Beauties were. Kitty and Jean were lounging on chairs, Lance and Pietro were in the pool, and Tabitha and Amanda were lounging on mats floating on the pool. Jean was the first one to catch his eye; he felt she was the most beautiful of all of them. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and looked towards Tabitha.

"Ahem," he said. "Tabitha, we really need to study."

"Hmm?" Tabitha said and turned her head to look at him. "I am studying."

Scott looked at the pile of books waiting at the side of the pool. Only Kitty and Jean were actually looking at theirs.

"It doesn't look like it to me," Scott said.

"I'm counting the number of guys out here," said Tabitha lazily, "and subtracting the ones that aren't in the pool."

Amanda giggled.

"Tabitha—"

"Go away. You're breaking my concentration. Now I have to start all over again."

x-x-x

Kurt dangled from the ceiling by his tail. Also with him in the lounge room were Fred, Piotr and Rahne.

"Based on the number of Beauties in the pool," Scott said as he entered. "I'd say the winner of the next Beauties challenge is going to be Wanda, Remy or Amara."

"Isn't Tabby a professional shopper?" asked Kurt as he swung to and fro. "Wouldn't that give her an advantage?"

"Maybe," Scott said. "But that's no excuse to slack off."

"Oh a trip to the elimination room'll settle them," Kurt replied.

"The problem with that," Rahne said, "is that one of us Geeks would have paid the price for it, seeing as how a visit to the elimination room means that one team is going home."

"As long as it's not me," Fred said.

x-x-x

There was a quick knock at the door and then it opened.

"Baby cakes!" Toad began as he turned around, and then his face fell when his eyes landed on Rogue. "Oh, hey Rogue. I thought you were Wanda."

"This is her room too," Rogue said. "Why would she knock?"

"Good point," he said, and flopped back down on the bed.

"Want a study partner?" she asked, wandering over to him.

"Been abandoned by your team mate too, huh?" Toad asked.

Rogue shrugged. "I expected it."

* * *

><p>Despite the reluctance of many of the Beauties, all the Geeks succeeded in pining them down for some study time, some more than others. It was getting rather late when Gambit made his way out to the hot tub. He'd spend most of the day with X-23, and he had no idea if he had gotten anywhere with her. She was so closed up. At this point, most of his housemates were just relaxing, although there were a couple who hadn't studied much doing the day that were doing some now. He passed by Scott and Jean in the kitchen, and resisted the urge to make a comment about how nervous Scott looked.<p>

Gambit had expected the hot tub to be empty when he arrived, so he was pleasantly surprised to find it occupied with a curvy, sexy female body in a little green bikini. The white streak in her hair told him who it was before he saw her face, and he couldn't resist the urge to wolf whistle as he approached. Rogue's eyes shot open.

"What the hell are you doing here, Cajun?" she demanded hotly, glaring at her.

"Same as you," he replied languidly, dropping his towel on the ground.

"I highly doubt it," Rogue replied, and a panicked look appeared on her face as she realised Gambit still intended on getting into the hot tub. "What are you doing? Get away from me!"

Gambit raised an eyebrow as Rogue practically wedged herself in a corner of the reasonably large hot tub.

"I was under the impression that touch was required?" he asked. "Or will just being in the same body of water be enough?"

"Touch is required, but I'm—"

"Then you stay on your side," Gambit said as he stepped into the hot tub, "and I'll stay on mine. And for the record, chère, this is the first time I've ever had to have this conversation."

"My heart bleeds for you," Rogue replied sarcastically.

Gambit grinned as Rogue closed her eyes and visibly tried to relax in the hot tub once more. She was still wearing the bucketload of make up she always did, and her skin was pasty-white, but Gambit was still fairly impressed with what he was seeing now that the layers of clothing were gone.

"It's official," he announced, and went on when Rogue didn't reply: "I've found the hottest woman in this place."

"Good," Rogue said after a long, drawn out silence. "Why don't you go bother her and leave me in peace?"

"In fact," Gambit went on as if she hadn't said anything, "I think she's the most beautiful woman I've seen in a long time."

Rogue opened up one eye and looked at him.

"Go try your lines on someone stupid enough to fall for them, would you?" she asked. "And stop ogling me."

"Oh, but you are, ma chère," Gambit said slyly. "It's nice to meet a femme who isn't afraid to eat."

"And now you're calling me fat," Rogue said, shutting her eyes again.

"No, I'm calling them anorexic," Gambit replied. "And you're just looking to start a fight."

"I'm looking to be left the hell alone."

"Are you always this antisocial? You know, chère, a word of advice; the others in the house don't need any more excuses to send you to the elimination room," Gambit said.

He would hate for her to leave before he had a chance to have any real fun with her.

"Is that a threat?" Rogue asked, opening her eyes once more so she could glare at him.

"Just an observation," he said. "Lance ain't exactly the only one that's running scared of your mutation."

"They'll either get over it, or they won't," Rogue replied. "I can handle them without your 'advice' thank you. Now, if you don't mind, it's not too often I get to be alone in my own skin and I'd like to enjoy it while I can. So shut up or leave."

Gambit smiled but said nothing more, and Rogue was thankful for Gambit's silence. After a time with her eyes closed, she was even able to forget he was there and just enjoy the water.

Sadly, it was not to last. Rogue opened her eyes again when she heard Jean and Scott approaching.

"Oh, sorry," Jean said upon reaching the edge of the hot tub, "we didn't realise anyone else was here."

"No, it's fine," Rogue said irritably. "I was going to get out soon anyway."

"I should probably get out too," Gambit said mildly as Rogue got out of the hot tub. "I'm going to turn into a prune soon."

"Oh, well, thanks," Jean said, as the pair grabbed their respective towels.

"No problem," Gambit said. "You two kids have fun, hein?"

He waggled his eyebrows at them. Rogue rolled her eyes, and with her towel wrapped tightly around her, she flew up to the balcony adjoining her bedroom so she could avoid going through the house with so much bare skin.

"You're brave," Jean said to Gambit, "being in the hot tub with her."

Gambit shrugged. "Not really, chère. Her skin's only dangerous if you touch it, not if you look at it."

"Suppose so."

* * *

><p>Spyke, the Beauties and the camera crew were gathered outside. There was a nasty smell in the air, and the Beauties were dressed head to toe in bright clothes, black boots, black plastic gloves and a large handkerchief. The girls wore theirs around their necks like decorative scarves, while Gambit decided to use his as a bandanna. Lance and Pietro followed Gambit's example.<p>

"Okay Beauties," Spyke said. "Ready for your next challenge?"

A chorus of affirmatives answered him.

"Great, because it's right around this corner," Spyke said.

They followed him, and a number of the girls gasp in horror as they saw a large pile of garbage right around that said corner. On the ground just before it, there were a number of marked rectangles—one for each Beauty—and a chalk board with values written on it.

"What you have to do," Spyke said. "Is find the recyclables in this pile. Cans are worth three cents, plastic bottles are worth seven cents, and glass bottles are worth ten cents. The first person to collect exactly five dollars—no more, no less—wins immunity and the ability to send another team to elimination. Pietro, you may use your super speed for this challenge, however, you will be sorting through that pile over there."

Pietro turned to where Spyke was pointing as saw a much, much larger pile of garbage quite some distance away. Obviously they were attempting to even the playing field.

"Jean, you may also use your telekinesis for this challenge," said Spyke. "But you may only move one item at a time."

"Okay," Jean replied, knowing that her telepathy was forbidden for all challenges, and they even had a telepath on staff to monitor her just in case. Jean resented that, but she reluctantly conceded she understood why they had to take that stance.

"No one else may use their powers," Spyke said. "On your marks. Get set. Go!"

Pietro sped off. Lance headed right for the garbage pile and most of the girls approached tentatively, put off by the smell. Gambit undid the handkerchief and fastened it around his nose instead. It might not cut off much of the smell, but it should at least stop any flies from getting in his mouth.

"Ooh," Tabitha said, noticing what he had done. "That's a great idea."

Gambit kept his snickers to himself as the other Beauties followed suit, and got to work sorting through the garbage. He had done this sort of thing plenty of times before; before he had been adopted, he'd gone through garbage just to find things to eat. Sadly, sometimes he still needed to go through garbage in his work as a thief. Listening to the other Beauties whine and complain about how yucky and smelly it was inspired him to discuss some of the really disgusting things he had found in the past, but he decided it was wisest to hold his tongue.

Amanda was the first to declare that she had gotten five dollars. Spyke announced for everyone to stop while he counted her collection of recyclables.

"Sorry, Amanda," Spyke said. "You don't have five dollars. Everyone, resume."

Amanda huffed and glared at the recyclables. Unfortunately, Spyke wouldn't tell her what her actual total was, so she ended up wasting time recounting before she got back into the pile and started searching for more.

It was some time before anyone else put their hand up. Spyke stopped the clock for Jean, who was over. While she was recalculating, Pietro declared that he had them, but he was even more over five dollars than Jean was. Again, Spyke wouldn't tell either of them what they actually had.

Finally, Wanda announced that she had five dollars. The other Beauties were rather irritated by this stage, especially Jean, who had finally worked out how many items she had to get rid of to have five dollar exactly. Jean mentally begged that Wanda would be off.

"Congratulations Wanda," said Spyke. "You've got exactly five dollars."

Wanda cheered.

* * *

><p>Later on that day, after all the Beauties had taken long, hot showers, they gathered around the radio in the lounge room to listen in on the Geek's challenge. They had been taken to a local radio station where they were going to be asked for relationship advice.<p>

"This can only be bad," Jean said when they found out what the Geek challenge was.

x-x-x

"I met this girl online and we really hit it off. We started dating and everything, and uhh, well, just recently we finally met in real life. And it turned out that we had already met," said the caller. "She was my adopted sister. And it wasn't an accident; she created a new identity just so she could uhh, well, ahem, seduce me. I just don't know what to do."

"Well," Kurt replied slowly. "I think that you need to talk to her, let her know how you feel about the situation."

"I did! But she still...likes me...like that."

"Well, her feelings aren't just going to go away, and your feelings aren't either for that matter. You should take some time to sort them out yourself. I can't tell you how you feel."

x-x-x

"I've never been on a date before," said the female caller, "and I'm really shy. How do I get a guy to ask me out?"

"Uhh," Fred said, "you...try making friends first?"

x-x-x

"So my girlfriend and I have been dating for awhile now, and I think it's time for us to, uhh, take things to the next level. You know...intimacy. How do you think I should ask her?"

"Wow, you've got a girlfriend?" said Toad. "That's cool. I've never had one of those. Umm, I think you should try...asking her. Yeah."

x-x-x

"There's this guy I like, but I don't know how to tell him how I feel."

There was a long silence.

"Laura?" said the host, Dr Harris. "What advice do you have for our caller?"

There was another pause, and then Gambit groaned when X-23 did start talking. The other Beauties look at each other.

"What's she saying?" asked Kitty.

"She's reciting one of the paragraphs from the study materials," Gambit said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Amara. "She has it _memorised_?"

"I guess this is proof I have my work cut out for me," Gambit replied with a shrug. "She knows the material, she just has no understanding of it."

x-x-x

"Okay so me and my boyfriend broke up, and I sorta, kinda had a rebound moment and ended up sleeping with someone else right after, and ended up pregnant. Anyway, I didn't see my boyfriend—well, my ex-boyfriend—for ages, and when we did, I found out that he was seeing someone else. A man. So, I kinda told him that the baby was his. I was just... I was scared, you know? I was afraid that he was going to go to Hell, being gay and all, so I thought if maybe I could win him back then maybe I could save him from going to Hell. But now it's becoming obvious that my baby hasn't exactly inherited anything from him, and I just don't know whether I should say anything or not."

"Well, you're right," said Rahne. "He is going to Hell. And so are you for lying to him."

x-x-x

"My best friend is dating my older brother. And it's not that I don't love them or want them to be happy, it's just...not with each other," said the female caller.

"Well," Piotr said slowly. "I think that you should probably tell them that you're uncomfortable with them dating. I know if my little sister was uncomfortable with who I was dating, I would want her to tell me."

x-x-x

"I've been dating this woman for years now, and I love her like crazy, but she's always going out of town on work. And I've always been faithful in the past but... well, recently I've met someone and I've started falling for her."

"Huh," Scott said thoughtfully. "Well, you're going to have to choose. You can't just date both of them at once; it's not fair on any of you. You're going to have to decide whether it's worth staying with your first woman, and trying to sort through your current problems."

x-x-x

"My wife has been complaining recently that we're not being romantic any more," said the caller. "We've been married for twenty-five years, now. What romance is left?"

"What romance is left?" Pyro asked. "Lemme tell you something, mate; romance is like fire."

The listening Beauties started groaning and snickering.

"Like...fire," the caller repeated uncertainly.

"Yup! It starts out small, and if you don't feed it, it can die down," Pryo said enthusiastically. "But with a little love and effort, you can build that baby back up again into a roaring manifestation of your unbridled love for each other! Tell me, do you love your wife?"

"Uhh, yes..."

"You don't sound too sure there. This is your wife! You married her, remember? 'Til death do you part. Your soulmate. Your confidant. Do you _love_her?"

"Yes," the called replied with much more assurance.

"Excellent! Then although the fire of your romance is down to mere embers, it can be brought back to life with a little tender loving care!" Pyro declared and Dr Harris watched him with growing amusement at his enthusiasm. "Just a bit of tindering, a few well timed breaths, and you'll have that camp fire roaring back to life again. Just think, camping, you and your wifey under the stars, with no one else around and roasting marshies over a big cozy campfire."

"Actually we don't like camping," said the caller. "And what are marshies?"

"Marshmallows," Pyro said. "That's okay, mate, there's always fireplaces. Just think, you and your wifey curled up in front of the fireplace, snuggled up together with hot chocolate or apple cider or something."

"We don't have a fireplace either. We have an apartment."

"Then you can still have candles! Anyone can have a candlelight dinner," Pyro went on, unperturbed. "Unless you're in jail, I guess. You're not in jail, are you?"

"No, definitely not."

"Oh good. I'm pretty sure they're down on lighting fires in jail. But then I'm not sure that jail's the place where you wanna get romantic with your wife anyway," Pyro said merrily. "And that is the key to a good romance: Fire. Can't go wrong. Well unless the fire goes spinning out of control and burns down a few acres of native bushland... Not that I'm admitting anything."

x-x-x

"I'm in love with a woman who's been seeing this other man on and off for, I don't know, ten years? Well, they're doing one of their 'off' periods again, and she's been knocking on my door. And at first I was really happy about that, but then I realised I'm just some sort of rebound guy before she gets back together with her old flame."

"So, basically she's just using you until she gets over her commitment issues?" Rogue asked. "What a bitch. I'd dump her ass."

x-x-x

Spyke, Dr Harris and the Geeks gathered together after the show.

"Dr Harris," said Spyke. "How'd our Geeks do?"

"First, I'd like to commend all of your for giving it a go and doing your best," Dr Harris said, addressing the Geek who were standing before him. "I know it can be really hard to get out of your comfort zone."

"And the winner?" Spyke asked.

"The winner offered both practical and general advice, and managed to engage the caller," said Dr Harris, and he turned to smile at his chosen winner. "Pyro."

"Me?" Pyro said, letting out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Wow! Hey, go me. Thanks mate."

"Congratulations," Spyke said, grinning at him. "That means you and Amara are safe from elimination, and you have the chance to pick another team to send to the elimination room."

* * *

><p>Sometime later, the Geeks returned to the mansion and the Beauties finally learned who had won the challenge. Spyke then informed everyone that Wanda, Toad, Pyro and Amara had a couple of hours to decide to who send to elimination. So while the winning teams found a place outside to converse, the other residents either studied or found ways to amuse themselves.<p>

"I don't know about you guys," Wanda said to Pyro and Amara, "but Toad and I have already decided on who we want to send to elimination: Pietro and Rahne."

"Because they put you in there last time?" Pyro asked, leaning against the wall as he played with his lighter. "Don't you think that sets a bad precedent? Not that I'm trying to talk you out of it, but this game's not going to be much fun if it becomes all about revenge. All the winners have to send _someone_whether they want to or not."

"That's true," Wanda replied. "But the problem I have is that choosing to send us into elimination wasn't even a hard decision for them. We barely know each other! They based their entire decision on the fact that Toad smells, and they weren't even the slightest bit interested in giving us a chance."

"Uh huh. Just out of curiosity," said Amara, "if someone else had been paired with Toad, would you have given them a chance? In fact, I can't help but notice that you don't exactly spend much time with Toad either."

Wanda glared at her. Toad cleared his throat uncomfortably as he hopped lightly on the spot.

"Ahem yes well," Pyro said. "The whole point of being here is the experience and learning to be better people. And the money. So I'd say that we've all learned something about not judging books by their covers. Great. This does not answer the question of who we're sending into the elimination room."

"I told you," said Wanda. "We're sending in Rahne and Pietro. I don't care who you send."

"Really? That's good," Amara practically purred. "Because I want to send Rogue and Lance."

"Why?" Wanda asked. "Because Rogue's dangerous and has an attitude to rival yours?"

"I like Rogue," Toad piped up, his eyes focused on a fly that was buzzing around.

"Of course you do," Amara sneered. "You losers have to stick together."

"Actually, I'm a little up in the air about Rogue and Lance," Pyro said. "Lance seems to be avoiding Rogue, and if he's going to keep doing that, then they're not going to work as a team, and they're not going to get anything worthwhile out of this experience. I don't know if we should try to put them out of their misery, or make them stay."

"Well, I'm friends with Amanda, Jean, Tabitha and Kitty," said Amara. "And I like Remy too. He's pretty hot. And he can cook."

"Note that everyone on your list is a Beauty," Wanda said. "What's wrong, Amara? Are the Geeks so far beneath you that—"

Toad flicked out his tongue and snatched a couple of flies out of the air. Simultaneously, Wanda and Amara said "ewww."

"Wanda, since you and Toad have already made your decision," Pyro said, "maybe Amara and I should make ours on our own. We've only got so much time to decide, and I don't want to spend it fighting."

Wanda turned her head towards Pyro and gave him a faint smile.

"Okay," she said. "Come on Toad."

Toad bounded after Wanda as she departed.

* * *

><p>At the appointed time, the Beauties and Geeks gathered on the stairs, two teams for each stair: Kitty and Piotr, and Gambit and X-23 at the top; Lance and Rogue, and Amanda and Kurt below them, Tabitha and Scott, and Pietro and Rahne near the front; and Jean and Fred in the middle of the stair in front. Wanda and Toad, and Amara and Pyro stood on either side of Spyke, and facing everyone.<p>

"Wanda and Toad, Pyro and Amara," Spyke said. "Your teams won today's challenges and the right to send a team to the elimination room. Wanda, you won the Beauties' challenge, who have you and Toad chosen to send?"

Wanda held her head up high and looked right at Pietro and Rahne.

"Pietro and Rahne," Wanda said, and Pietro glowered at her.

"Any particular reason why?" Spyke asked.

"Because they sent us there last time, just because of Toad's hygiene issues," Wanda said, glaring at them. "It would be one thing if it was just a case of us not getting along, but they never even _tried_ to give Toad a chance."

"You are such a hypocrite," said Rahne. "All you've been doing is complaining about how much he smells."

"Yeah," Pietro agreed. "We had to pick someone, and stinkiness was as good a reason as any."

"You two don't get it," Wanda said. "It wasn't that you sent us to the elimination room, it's _why_ you sent us to the elimination room. If your reasoning had been 'we think you're a strong team and we want to get rid of you before you become a threat', then at least you would have had our understanding and respect, and we wouldn't be targeting you now. At least, not out of vengeance, anyway."

"Yeah, that's right," Toad said, feeling the need to add something.

"Okay, thank you," Spyke said, and he turned towards Pyro and Amara before any more could be said from that quarter. "Pyro, you won the Geeks' challenge, who have you and Amara chosen to send?"

"Well, it was a tough decision, 'cause we didn't want this to descend into a popularity contest," Pyro said. "I never win popularity contests, anyway. We thought about sending in a stronger team and potentially get rid of some competition later, but... Well, in the end we decided that the only thing that everyone is going to walk away from here with is the experience."

Amara sighed impatiently beside him. She wished he would get to the point already, and stop saying "we" when he really meant himself.

"There's one team that isn't working, and hasn't been working from the start. We think that this team isn't going to be able to make the most out of this experience; although if you guys do survive the elimination, I sincerely hope you prove me wrong. Lance and Rogue."

"Lance, Rogue," Spyke said, looking towards the pair on the stairs. "Anything you'd like to say?"

"Not much to say, Spyke," Rogue said. "He's right. We're not getting along, and until we do we're not going to get anything worthwhile out of this. Well, except maybe vindication that it's not worth my time to go out and socialise."

"Lance?" Spyke inquired.

Lance just shrugged.

"Alright then," said Spyke. "Pietro and Rahne, Rogue and Lance; pack your things and say your good byes. I'll see you in the elimination room."

* * *

><p>When Gambit appeared at Lance and Rogue's room, Lance was packing while Kitty sat on the bed, chatting to him. He gave a wave and then spotted Rogue on the balcony.<p>

"Done packing?" he inquired of her as he stepped into the night air.

Rogue glanced back at him, and then looked back out at the view.

"Yep," she replied. "I was pretty much living out of my bags anyway."

"Hmm," Gambit said as he stepped beside her and slowly slid his arm around her waist. "Never occurred to you to put anything away?"

"I put some things away," Rogue replied, staring stonily into the distance. "And get your hand off me."

Gambit trailed his fingers up her back to her shoulder, and turned his head to catch her eye. "I just wanted to wish you luck, and to let you know that I hope you come back."

Rogue closed her eyes briefly, then slowly turned her head in his direction and opened her eyes again. She gave him a long, hard, suspicious look.

"You're the playboy, right?" she said.

Gambit ran his fingers down her arm. "Oui."

"Well, I'm not some new toy for you to play with," Rogue said, flicking his hand off her. "I'm a woman and I expect to be treated like one."

Gambit smiled and looked her over suggestively. "And what a woman you are."

"I mean it, Swamp Rat," Rogue said, jabbing his chest with her index finger. "I've dealt with men like you before."

"I assure you, ma chère," Gambit said, snaring her hand and bringing it to his lips. "You have never dealt with a man like me before."

He kissed her gloved fingers and she snatched her hand away.

* * *

><p>Lance and Rogue, Pietro and Rahne walked down the stairs and to the elimination room. Lance and Pietro held open the double doors, Rogue and Rahne walked in and stood at the indicated places. Lance and Pietro closed the doors behind them and stood by their partner. In Lance's case this meant he was as far away from Rogue as he thought he could get away with.<p>

"Ladies and gentlemen," said Spyke. "Welcome to the elimination room. You will each be asked two questions about your areas of study. The team that gets the most questions correct will win. The losing team will have to leave the mansion immediately. Ladies, you will go first. Gentlemen, please go to the viewing room."

Spyke waited until Lance and Pietro had departed before he asked Rahne to pick a number.

"One, please," she said.

While Rahne was asked and answered her first question incorrectly, Rogue found herself considering—not for the first time—deliberately getting the answers wrong so she could go home. She had only auditioned for the show because her best friend, Carol, insisted. After putting her into a coma for three years, completely stripping her of her mind and powers, Rogue felt like she owed her, so she had agreed. She never expected to actually get in. It was that same feeling of indebtedness that told Rogue not to quit and get the answers wrong just so she could leave. One way or the other, Carol would figure out if she didn't try her best.

"Rogue, what question would you like?" Spyke asked.

"Four, thank you," Rogue replied.

"Four," Spyke said, picking up the relevant card. "When disagreeing with your partner, what word should you never start with?"

Rogue considered for a moment. "You."

"That is correct," said Spyke. "Rahne? What number would you like?"

"Two, please," Rahne replied, feeling especially nervous after getting her first question wrong.

Rahne and Rogue got their second questions correct, and then Spyke called Lance and Pietro back into the elimination room. After a score update, Rahne and Rogue were sent to the viewing room.

"Wow, that was intense, huh?" said Rahne as she sat down.

"Yep," Rogue replied.

They watched the screen as Spyke gave Pietro and Lance some basic maths problems mostly involving percentages and addition. Pietro was able to come up with his answers quickly, but Lance required a little more thinking time.

"Lance," Spyke said. "Last question. The score is three to thee. If you get this right, you and Rogue stay in the house, and Pietro and Rahne go home. If not, we go to a tie breaker. Are you ready?"

"Go for it," Lance replied.

"If I tell five people a secret, and they tell four people, how many people know the secret?" Spyke asked.

"Well, five fours are twenty, plus five, so that makes it twenty-five—wait..." Lance hesitated. "Twenty...six."

"Twenty-six, is that your final answer?" Spyke asked.

Lance hesitated again. He was pretty sure that the number of people who knew the secret had to include the person who has told the secret in the first place. What he wasn't sure about was going back into the game with Rogue as his partner. In the end his competitive streak, his desire to win the money, and his interest in Kitty won out.

"Yes," Lance said. "Twenty-six."

"That is correct," Spyke said. "Ladies please come back."

Rahne let out a sigh as she and Rogue got up. They headed back to the elimination room and stood by her partners. While Pietro gave Rahne a hug, Lance stepped slightly away from Rogue.

"Congratulations Rogue and Lance," Spyke said, and then turned to Rahne and Pietro. "Rahne, Pietro, I'm very sorry, but you need to leave the house immediately."

The teams looked at each other. Lance held his hand out to Pietro.

"Good game," Lance said.

"Yep. Good luck," Pietro replied, and then waved at Rogue. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Rogue replied.

Lance gave Rahne a quick hug. With a final wave at Rogue, Rahne and Pietro departed. Lance and Rogue looked back at Spyke.

"Congratulations again," Spyke said. "I'm sure that there's a bunch of people upstairs eager to find out what happened."

"Thank you," Rogue said to Spyke.

Spyke gave her a nod, and she and Lance left the elimination room. They made their way back up the stairs to the first bedroom where they knew everyone was waiting. Lance stood back while Rogue opened up the door. Since Lance was so determined to keep his distance, Rogue was the first through the door, and he didn't enter until after she cleared it.

"Lance!" Kitty exclaimed.

Lance grinned at her as she hugged him. Piotr and Kurt tried not to let the moment tug at their heart strings too much.

"Oh good," Wanda practically purred. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you both."

"You're a real bitch, you know that, right?" said Tabitha, glaring at her from where she sat on the bed.

"You haven't seen the half of it," Wanda replied flippantly.

"I'm glad to see you guys too," Toad said, bouncing on the spot.

Rogue gave Toad a smile. "Thanks, sugah."

While Scott asked about the questions, Rogue lifted her head and met Gambit's eyes. He winked at her.

* * *

><p>"I don't think it's really hit me yet," said Rahne to the cameras outside. "It felt like we'd barely begun and now we're leaving."<p>

"I'm disappointed it's over," said Pietro. "I would have liked to have stayed. I would have liked to have stayed and rubbed our victory in Wanda's face, but you don't always get what you want."


	3. Episode 3

**Episode 3**

Spyke walked into the study where the eight remaining teams where waiting on lounges and chairs. He stood behind the desk, on which was a bottle of massage oil and a car jack.

"Good morning," he said. "I hope you had a good night."

The Beauties and Geeks responded with a round of affirmatives.

"Great. Your next challenges will be all about machines. Beauties," Spyke said, putting his hands on the car jack, "you'll be learning about car maintenance."

Spyke grinned at the series of groans he got.

"While the Geeks will be focusing on a biological machine: the human body. You'll have to learn all about the art of massage."

The response to that was a cross between cheering and panic from both Geeks and Beauties. Piotr went quite pale. Wanda froze with horror as Toad cheered beside her. Lance pointed an accusing finger at Rogue.

"What about her?" he demanded.

"Rogue will be wearing gloves, of course," Spyke said, giving Lance a hard look before putting his hands on a pile of books. "These are your study materials. I'll see you in a couple of days. Good luck."

* * *

><p>Wanda stood in the bedroom with a little-too-eager Toad looking crouched on the floor beside her. It was clear from the expression on his face that he dearly wanted to get started on the massage part of their studies. Wanda was disgusted by the very idea; the thought of his hands on her made her want to be sick. Still, she remembered all too well the events leading up to the elimination; being called a hypocrite for condemning others for not giving Toad a chance when she wasn't either.<p>

"Wash," she said.

"Wh-what?" Toad stammered in reply, his hopeful expression turning wary.

"Go have a shower," Wanda said firmly, gesturing to the bathroom door. "Now."

"But I hate showers," Toad whined.

"A bath then. I don't care," Wanda replied. "But you are not touching me until after you've scrubbed every inch of your body thoroughly."

"But—"

"No buts!" Wanda insisted, her eyes blazing. "You're here to learn how to improve your social life, right? Well, this is where you start! Hygiene! You haven't showered once since you've been here, but mark my words, you are going to start washing every single day starting right now. And you're going to start using deodorant too."

"I hate deodorant," Toad complained, turning up his nose and seeming to sink into the floor.

"I don't care!" Wanda said, and a blue light grew around her hand as she clenched her fist. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Toad. And you won't like the hard way."

x-x-x

"Yeeeeoooooooow!"

Simultaneously, Piotr, Kitty and Lance all looked towards the ceiling of the dining room.

"What in the world was that?" Kitty said.

"I think that Wanda and Toad's room is right above us," Piotr said.

"Heh," Lance said with a snicker as he looked back down at the car books and parts in front of them on the table. "Toad screams like a girl."

Kitty jabbed him. He pulled a face at her and rubbed his arm.

"What do you suppose they're doing up there," she asked.

"Maybe Wanda's showing Toad how to massage?" Lance suggested.

"Maybe," Kitty replied dubiously.

The conversation just made Piotr so much more worried about his studies, and was glad that Kitty had decided to start with the car first. Having grown up on a farm, a certain amount of vehicle maintenance had been required learning for him.

x-x-x

"So what do you know about cars?" Scott asked from the bed he shared with Tabitha.

"Nothing," Tabitha said absently as she carefully painted her fingernails.

"Nothing, huh?" Scott said, flipping through the book between his knees. "Do you know how to drive?"

"Yeah," she said, still intent on her nails. "Okay, maybe not nothing-nothing."

"Do you know how to change a tyre?" Scott asked, pausing to glance over one of the diagrams.

Tabitha blew lightly on her fingers. "Nope."

"Check the oil?"

"Nope."

x-x-x

Amara, Jean, Pyro and Fred were on the back porch with the books and car parts spread across the outdoor table. While Pyro and Fred poured over the books, Amara looked at Jean.

"So how is it we ended up with the only Geeks in the world who don't know how to look after a car?" Amara asked.

"I can service all the cars I want," said Pyro, his head buried in the book, "just as long as they're fictional."

"I know how to change a tyre," Fred added defensively.

"Well," said Jean with a slight smile, "at least we have a few days."

x-x-x

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Amanda exclaimed, practically leaping away from Kurt's hands.

Kurt looked up at her with a pained expression on his face from where he sat on the chair.

"Sorry?" he said tentatively.

"What is with your nails?" she said. "It feels like you're stabbing me."

Amanda snatched up one of his hands as Kurt apologised once more.

"Geez no wonder," Amanda said as she inspected his fingernails. "These things are huge. They're practically claws."

"That's a slight exaggeration," Kurt replied.

"Don't you ever clip them?"

"Of course I do."

"Hmm," Amanda hummed as she considered his nails some more. It wasn't so much the length as it was the thickness. "I think I'm going to need my biggest file for these."

"Uhh..."

x-x-x

Rogue was not expecting to find Gambit and X-23 in the kitchen when she arrived for her lunch. She gave X-23 a nod as she passed and made her way to the fridge.

"How's the studying going?" Gambit asked as he made his sandwich.

"Fine," Rogue replied shortly.

"I notice that Lance's been studying with Kitty and Piotr this morning," Gambit said with a nod in the direction of the dining room.

"He's been avoiding me like the plague," Rogue said, pulling what she wanted out of the fridge and kicking it shut. "But I hardly need his help to read a book, and he apparently knows," and here Rogue lowered the pitch of her voice, "all about cars and he doesn't need some stupid chick telling him what to do."

Gambit sighed dramatically. "Men."

Rogue paused long enough to give Gambit a weird look. He chuckled and sat down next to X-23 with his sandwich and a drink. X-23 was already eating her lunch.

"And what about you guys?" Rogue asked as she prepared her own lunch.

"We've been giving each other massages all morning," Gambit said.

"I have strong hands but no technique," X-23 reported, giving Rogue the impression she was repeating something Gambit had told her.

Gambit cleared his throat with a slight grin. "Well, I hardly think you're going to be alone in that, chère. I doubt most of the hommes here have ever even touched a femme in their life, let alone given them a massage."

"I know all about that," Rogue said dryly.

It was only then that Gambit realised what he'd said. He made a non-committal grunt and then asked: "Just how long have you been unable to touch people?"

"Almost fifteen years," Rogue replied, her voice clipped.

"Merde," Gambit said as Rogue joined them at the bench with her lunch. "So this is probably a stupid question, but why don't you just get one of those power control implants?"

"Oh I've applied plenty of times," Rogue said, and from the irritated tone of voice she was using, Gambit figured this was a sore subject. "My shrink keeps blocking me."

"Seriously?" Gambit asked, lifting his drink to his mouth. "Doesn't absence of human touch violate your human rights or something? I mean, people need to touch."

Rogue gave Gambit the first smile he'd seen on her lips since they'd met.

"Apparently I don't need skin contact to hug someone or whatever," Rogue replied. "My shrink thinks my problem is in my head and that if I get the implant I'll just rely on it instead of working through the psychological problem."

"So, get a new shrink."

"Been there, done that, got the commemorative album."

Gambit laughed. X-23 gave Rogue a look that said she didn't get it, but didn't say anything and just cleaned off her plate.

"Okay, okay," Gambit said. "But surely after fifteen years, they'd have some mercy? And what about... You said you put your friend into a coma for three years? Stripped her of her powers? Doesn't that count for something?"

"My threat level is 'containable'," Rogue replied, and she took a large bite of her food.

Gambit grunted and seemed to remember his sandwich. He had the feeling there was more to this than she was telling, but he also got the impression that she had said all she cared to say on the matter, so he didn't push it.

"So," he said after they'd been eating in companionable silence for a time, "need a hand roping Lance into teaching you massage?"

"I'm not going to demean myself by begging him to help me," Rogue replied with dignity.

Gambit raised an eyebrow as he gathered up the last crumbs of his sandwich. "So...you were just going to read the book?"

"Yup."

"Bad idea," Gambit said, shaking his head. "There are some things that need to be practised, chère. You're a test pilot, right? I bet there's a ton of things that work differently in practice than they do in theory. Massage is the same way."

Rogue cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? And you read about massage often?"

"I read about it this morning," Gambit replied, smirking at her. "It's very technical but not all that useful."

Rogue didn't reply as she cleaned off her plate. Gambit watched her for a moment, and realised that was all the answer he was going to get. She meant what she said about not demeaning herself by approaching Lance, and as long as he didn't volunteer, that was the end of it.

"Well," Gambit said as he stood, taking his plate with him. "You can practice on me if you want. Done with that?"

Rogue gave his plate with a nod. "You already have Laura to look after. Not to mention your own car studies."

"At risk of sounding like Lance," Gambit said, taking X-23's plate as well, "I already know all about cars. Fast cars, motorcycles; they're like prerequisites for being a playboy. Although I do prefer the bikes. But hey, you never know when a couple of hot chicks might be having car trouble."

"That really happens outside of the movies?" Rogue asked skeptically as she watched Gambit put the plates into the sink.

"Ahh if only real life was like TV," Gambit replied, chuckling as he turned on the water. "Once. It happened once. Trust me, I know my way around the car. I've already flipped through the material. There's nothing in there I don't already know. If you want someone to practice on, I really don't mind."

Rogue was silent for a long moment.

"What's in it for you?" she asked finally. "I mean, you've got nothing to gain by helping me—or any other team—with their study. What if I win the challenge and Laura doesn't?"

Rogue felt the likelihood of her winning a massage challenge when she had to wear gloves was poor, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try.

"Then I get the privilege of knowing I helped you get there, and the feeling of reassurance that Laura and I won't end up in the elimination room."

Rogue laughed.

"Alright then, Swamp Rat," she said, and then glanced over at X-23 who hadn't said a word. "If it's okay with you, Laura?"

"It is okay," X-23 replied. "We had already planned to 'do our own thing' after lunch."

"Alright then," said Gambit as he put the freshly washed plates in the rack. "Well, if you're ready, we should go to your room and pick out the best gloves for the job."

Rogue pushed herself up from the bench with a nod. "Okay."

Gambit smiled to himself as he followed Rogue out of the kitchen. While trotting up the stairs, Gambit started unbuttoning his shirt. Rogue didn't notice until they got to her door—one of the bedrooms right next to Gambit's—and her eyes went wide with shock as he casually slipped his shirt down his arms.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Gotta come off sometime," Gambit replied, keeping his amusement at her reaction to himself. "And this way, we get to send Lance a message."

He opened up Rogue's door and hung his shirt on the door handle. He grinned wickedly at Rogue, and then gestured to her to come in. Rogue pulled a face at his audacity to invite her into her own room, moved past him quickly, and headed over to the bag she kept her gloves in.

"Most of these are cotton," Rogue said as she pulled out pairs. "Bunch of leather ones. A couple of silk and satin ones..."

"And a box of disposables, I see," Gambit said, picking up a nearby box.

"Never know when I'm gonna be dealing with something greasy, bloody or otherwise likely to wreck my normal gloves," Rogue replied with a shrug. "I always keep a pair on me."

"Hmm," Gambit said while testing out the texture of some of her gloves. "Like massage oil?"

"Yeah," Rogue replied with a slight smirk. "Like massage oil. But if you have a better idea..."

Gambit grinned at her and handed her a left silk glove and a right thin leather glove. "Let's see what these feel like. A big part of massage is being able to 'talk' to the body, so you want to have as small a barrier as possible."

Rogue didn't reply and pulled on the gloves. She hesitated after finishing putting the second glove on, but Gambit took her hands and pressed them to his bare chest. Rogue swallowed hard. The gesture felt particularly intimate in the bedroom, and she knew she was blushing. She kept her eyes focused on his chest and tried to ignore the heat in her face.

Gambit kept his eyes on hers, although she refused to meet his gaze. He gave her hands a all-so-gentle squeeze and then slowly ran his fingers down her arms, and then onto her waist and pulled her just a little closer than necessary. Rogue's fingers flexed involuntarily on his skin before she remembered what it was they were doing.

She felt incredibly out of her depth as she gently rubbed his skin. She had seen men shirtless before, but it had been years since she'd gotten this close to one. She swallowed as her fingers ran lightly over his firmly muscled chest.

"Hmm," Gambit said in a low voice. "I think that the leather one has too much grip."

"Oh, umm, yeah," Rogue stammered in reply.

Gambit reached over for one of the disposable gloves while Rogue mentally berated herself for her embarrassing response. She shouldn't let him get to her. He handed her the disposable glove, and she pushed him away before she took the leather glove off. While Rogue exchanged gloves, Gambit picked up the massage oil.

"I don't really want to use that with my silk glove," Rogue said, eyeing the bottle.

"Not expecting you to," Gambit replied, "but you were planning on using it with the disposable, right?"

"Well, yeah..."

"Bon," Gambit said, and he dripped a little of the oil on the left side of his chest. Rogue's eyes were immediately on the resulting drops as they slid down. "You'd better catch those before they go too far, hein? Unless you _want_ them to go too far..."

Rogue glared at him and slapped her hands back onto his chest with a little more force than was necessary. He smirked at her as he slid his hands onto her waist once more.

"Don't flatter yourself, Swamp Rat," she practically snarled at him. "You're not that exciting."

"See?" Gambit said, fighting back the urge to make some suggestive, flirtatious response that would likely result in being kicked out, "does not this glove slide so much easier than the leather one?"

"Oh, it's delightful," Rogue replied sardonically.

"That's what I thought."

As he gazed down into her flashing green eyes, he had a sudden urge to kiss her. He set the urge aside immediately, of course, the words "three year coma" echoing in his mind. Still, the blazing fury he saw in her eyes suggested to him that he was missing out on something—someone—really amazing.

"I think the disposable's the better option," Rogue said, breaking the silence that Gambit only just realised had occurred. "Unless you preferred the silk for some reason?"

"Well, I do...just for something else," Gambit replied, giving her a wink. "Shall I lie down? Or would you like me to massage you first?"

"Not if you're anticipating me taking off my shirt," Rogue replied evenly as she disentangled herself from his arms. "Go lie down."

"Of course, ma chère," Gambit replied, rubbing his skin where the massage oil had been. "Say, Roguey? Do you actually need gloves for this? Wouldn't the massage oil be enough of a barrier?"

"Nope," Rogue replied as she pulled off the silk glove to exchange it for a second disposable glove, which Gambit held out for her. "The oil's supposed to be absorbed into the skin, and hey, news flash, that's what I do; absorb people. At best it might slow it down, but not by much."

"Ahh well," Gambit said, glancing at the two single beds. "It was just a thought. So which one's yours?"

Before Rogue could respond, however, Gambit came to his own conclusion about which be was Rogue's, and promptly sprawled on it. Rogue picked up the massage oil.

"And what, pray tell, would you have done if that was Lance's bed?" Rogue inquired as she sauntered over to him.

"Leave something to let him know I was there," Gambit replied cheerfully as he rolled onto his stomach. "Preferably something gross."

"I'd ask," Rogue said, squirting the massage oil onto her hands, "but I have a feeling I don't want to know what you mean by something gross."

Gambit chuckled as Rogue put the bottle down on the bedside table. Rogue took a moment to eye off Gambit's back, took a deep breath and then gently placed her hands on his back. The study material talked about warming up the skin first, so that was what she opted to focus on first.

"Okay," Gambit said after a few minutes. "I think you can start digging your fingers in now."

"Oh... I was..." Rogue said.

"Yeah? Well, you need to press harder then," he said, and when there was no reply or noticeable change in pressure he said: "Chère? You hear me?"

"Yeah, I heard. Isn't this enough?"

"No."

"Oh... what about this?"

"No. Harder," Gambit said in exasperation at the barely-worth-it increase in pressure.

"This?"

"Harder," he said, and then added suggestively: "Ohhh, harder, Roguey, harder."

Rogue's temper flared. Gambit groaned for real when her fingers dug into his back forcefully. And as quickly as that happened, her hands disappeared from his back.

"Oh hell, I'm sorry," she said in genuine concern. "I didn't hurt you too much did I?"

Gambit grunted, and then rolled on his side. He took in the worried expression on her face.

"Wow," he said. "You're really petrified of hurting people, aren't you?"

The worry vanished and was replaced with a glare.

"Look, Swamp Rat," she said crossly, "flight was not the only power I stripped from my best friend, okay? She was also invulnerable and super strong, which means now I am too. Only, unlike Carol, I hardly ever touch anyone, with or without skin contact, so it's hard to tell when hard is too hard."

"Ahh," Gambit said. "Thanks for clearing that up. See? It's a good thing I offered to practice with you, Roguey. That was the perfect amount of pressure right then, and I'll keep you appraised of the pressure level as we go, okay?"

Rogue nodded. "Okay. But can it with the sexual crap."

"Why?" he asked with a smirk just before he rolled back onto his stomach. "Afraid someone might hear us?"

x-x-x

Some time later, Kitty, Piotr and Lance made their way up the stairs. Lance decided he wanted to go swimming, and Kitty and Piotr were planning on working on Piotr's massage skills. Rogue and Lance's bedroom was on the way to Kitty and Piotr's bedroom, so all three noticed the pink shirt hanging off the door knob.

"Whose shirt is that?" Lance asked with a frown as he approached his door.

"Let's see," Kitty said dryly. "Who do we know wears pink, designer dress shirts?"

Lance threw Kitty a startled look, then flung open the bedroom door. Sure enough, there was Gambit, lying on Rogue's bed while she massaged her back.

"What are you, insane?" Lance demanded, staring at Gambit incredulously. "She could put you in a coma for years!"

"There are these things called 'gloves', mon ami," Gambit said lazily, lifting his head ever so slightly. "You may have heard of them."

Kitty giggled.

"I've scored massages from two gorgeous women today," Gambit went on, throwing Lance a smirk. "And you ask if I'm the one who's insane."

"Rogue and Laura are Geeks," said Lance. "They're not 'gorgeous'. This one isn't even pretty."

"Lance, that's mean," Kitty said before anyone else could respond, and then turned her attention to Gambit: "And not that I'm criticising, Remy—I think it's very sweet of you to help Rogue—but shouldn't you be focusing on your own studies with Laura?"

"Been with Laura all morning," Gambit replied, sinking his head back into Rogue's pillow. "And I already know my way around a car. Trust me, I've got nothing to lose by helping Roguey."

"Except your powers," Lance said snidely, "and three years of your life."

"I don't know," Gambit said slyly. "Might be worth it."

"It ain't something to joke about, Swamp Rat," Rogue said darkly as she lifted her hands from his back.

"There, see? Even she agrees," said Lance.

"I have a name, rude boy," Rogue said, glaring at him as she took off her gloves. "I don't care if you can't abide my company, but if you refer to me as 'her' or 'she' one more time, a coma will be the least of your worries."

"Ha! You tell him, Rogue," Kitty said, grinning at Rogue as she dropped the disposable gloves in the garbage. Kitty tugged at Piotr's arm. "Come on, Pete. We should get started."

* * *

><p>Finally, the day of the challenges arrived. The Beauties and Geeks were taken to a parking lot where eight identical blue cars were waiting. There was a podium beside each car, a car jack, a spare tyre and a couple of smaller things sitting on the podium. The female Beauties were dressed up like Daisy Duke, while Gambit and Lance were wearing simple blue mechanic jumpsuits.<p>

Each of the teams picked a car. The Geeks stood behind the podiums while their Beauties stood just to the side of the front of the cars. Everyone looked at Spyke, who was standing in front of the line.

"Okay Beauties," said Spyke. "For today's challenge you will have to complete the following check list: pop the hood, check the oil, change the air filter, close the hood and change the tyre. The first Beauty to complete all their tasks and honk the horn, wins. Geeks, you can watch, but you may not help. Beauties, no, you may not use your powers. Your time starts...now."

Gambit grabbed the rag off the podium and popped the hood. Coming up to the challenge he had heavily debated with himself what he should do. He had never planned on winning any challenges; he was far more interested in seeing if he could avoid getting into the elimination room just by being charming. Still, he had assured X-23 that he knew what he was doing, and they hadn't gone over his study materials at all. He hated the idea of possibly letting her down by purposely doing a sloppy job, especially after he had spent all that time with Rogue.

Rogue was the other reason why Gambit opted to try his best with this challenge, or more to the point, Lance. Gambit did not want Lance to win. If Rogue won the massage challenge, great, but Gambit didn't like Lance's attitude towards Rogue, and he thought that if Lance won, it would vindicate his decision to avoid Rogue.

Most of the Beauties were able to open up the hood of the car fairy quickly. Amanda and Amara both had problems finding the latch. Amanda eventually found hers, and Amara found hers too a few minutes later.

Jean lost time attempting to locate the air filter, as did Tabitha.

Gambit, Lance, Kitty and Wanda all worked on their spare tyres at the same time. Wanda had problems with the car jack and Kitty made the mistake of tightening the nuts instead of loosening them.

Gambit opened up the driver's door and honked the horn. A couple of cars away, Lance huffed in irritation; he'd just finished putting the tyre back on.

"And Remy wins," said Spyke, and Gambit allowed himself a smug grin as he got out of the car. "Congratulations, you've won immunity, and the chance to send another team into the elimination room."

Remy tugged X-23 next to him and gave her a half hug, which X-23 received awkwardly.

"I'll see you back at the mansion," Spyke said.

* * *

><p>During the trip back, Gambit brushed off the congratulations of others with as much modesty as he could muster.<p>

"I had the advantage of prior knowledge," he said from the back seat of the bus. "Most of you hadn't even seen the inside of a car engine, or changed a tyre before now. So maybe I won the challenge, but you femmes learned something new."

"And that," said Kitty from her seat just in front, "is what this whole experience is all about."

"Exactly," Gambit replied, offering Kitty one of his sexy smiles. "Never know, maybe next time one of you will have the advantage and I'll be the one completely out of my depth. Heck, for all we know, one of these Geeks knows more about massage than he's letting on, hein?"

"Not Pete," Kitty said, with a rueful glance at her partner who was at the front of the bus in conversation with Kurt. "I don't think he's ever touched a woman before, at least not one he wasn't related to. He was so nervous about touching me I thought he was going to have an anxiety attack."

"I don't think Pyro has either," said Amara from across the aisle, "but he was eager to try."

"So was Toad," Wanda said, also in the backseat.

"Eww," Amara said with a shudder.

"At least you got him to shower, though," said Gambit, with a nod towards Wanda. "Masterfully done, might I say."

"Thank you," Wanda replied, giving him a smile. "And thanks again for lending him your deodorant."

Gambit shrugged while Amara gaped at him.

"You did what?" she asked. "Eww."

"Oh, it's not that gross," said Wanda waving her hand at her. "It's a spray, not a roll-on."

"You are the helpful sort, aren't you?" Kitty said, giving Gambit a teasing grin. "First Rogue, then Toad."

"You misunderstand, chérie," Gambit said giving her a wink. "First Rogue, then _Wanda_."

Kitty laughed and smacked his arm lightly. "You ladies man, you."

Gambit grinned and then waggled his eyebrows at Wanda. Wanda rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

x-x-x

Kurt switched sitting next to Piotr to sit next to Rogue, who was looking out the window and not joining in on the conversation.

"Hey," he greeted her. "Thinking about anything in particular, or just enjoying the view?"

"Bit of both," Rogue said after a short pause.

"Anything interesting?"

"Not really."

"So, I don't know about you," Kurt said, determined not to let the conversation fall flat like Rogue appeared to want it to, "but I'm really nervous about this massage challenge."

"That makes two of us," Rogue drawled.

* * *

><p>The housemates had some time back at the mansion to clean up (the Beauties especially), eat lunch, and have a little time to relax before they had to go outside for the Geeks challenge. They were asked to line up with their partners about four or five metres away from a line of massage tables. Those who counted the number of tables noted that there were ten of them, and found that a little strange as there were only eight teams. Spyke stood off to the side of the tables. There were also four additional people amongst the camera crew.<p>

"Geeks," he said when all were ready, "it's time for your massage challenge. Before we get started, I should introduce you to two of your judges for today: Paul...and Duncan."

The two men came forward, both dressed in fluffy white bath robes. They each stood next to a table.

"The other eight judges will be...your Beauties."

There was universal freaking out amongst the Beauties as they shuddered at the thought of being massaged by all the Geeks, or at least by particular Geeks. The Geeks were one part panic, two parts excitement. The Beauties were then instructed to go back inside and change.

"This is not going to be over soon enough," Amara said as they trotted up the stairs.

"Yeah, I know," said Wanda. "I wore a shirt while Toad practised, and now I have to go down there in my bikini and be massaged by everyone?"

"Ewww Toad," Amara said shuddering.

"Hey, if you think you've got it bad," said Lance as he reached the top of the stairs, "Remy and I are going to be massaged by a bunch of guys."

"What about Laura and Rogue?" Amanda asked.

"They're so butch they may as well be guys," Lance said.

"Lance! That's mean," Kitty said.

"Oh hell, guys..." said Tabitha from just outside her door. "We're getting a massage from Rogue."

There was silence as everyone paused, and it was interrupted by a loud, contemptuous snort from Gambit.

"Please," he said scornfully. "I've been practising with Rogue the last couple of days, remember? She didn't absorb me once. You'll be fine."

x-x-x

Soon the Beauties returned, each dressed in their swimwear with a fluffy, white bathrobe over the top. They each stood by one of the tables. The Geeks were still waiting in a line.

"Each Geek will give a five minute massage," Spyke said. "After the massages are over, the Beauties will rate the massage they just received. To make it fair, the Beauties will be wearing blindfolds and earphones so that they don't know the identity of the masseur."

Kurt looked down at his blue hands: furry and only two fingers instead of four. He was pretty sure they'd have no problems figuring out which massage came from him. Further down the line, Rogue was thinking the same thing about her gloved hands.

"Additionally, there will be two more masseurs," and as Spyke continued talking, two women emerged from the crew and joined the line of Geeks. "Taryn will be wearing gloves."

Rogue face lit up as she glanced down the line to see Taryn armed with a box of disposable gloves just as she was.

"And Risty, whose metamorphic abilities will allow her to copy Kurt's hands," Spyke went on, and Risty held up her hands as they morphed to match Kurt's. "Beauties, know that Taryn and Risty are both trained and qualified masseurs."

Gambit grinned, realising immediately that they were attempting to promote honesty in the judging.

"Beauties, if you will disrobe."

Simultaneously, the Beauties, Paul and Duncan took off their robes and climbed onto their respective tables. They put on their blindfolds and earphones. Once they were in place, the Geeks, Taryn and Risty walked to their first table. The timer started and they began their first massage.

After the first round, the Geeks were told to stand back. The Beauties lifted their blindfolds and grabbed the clipboard and pen that were waiting in arm's reach for them. They jotted down their rating, and when they were done, they set everything aside, put their blindfold back on and lay down again. When all was ready, the Geeks moved to their second table. The cycle continued until the tenth round.

During their nightly confessional that evening, the Beauties and Geeks shared their thoughts about the challenge:

"There was this one guy," said Amara, "who used way too much massage oil. It's like, this is supposed to be a massage! Not an oil bath."

"I have never touched so many half naked people in my life," said Piotr. "I was really nervous at first, but I took a few deep breaths, tried to remember everything that Kitty had told me, and did the best I could."

"I don't know which one was Kurt and which one was Risty," said Tabitha, "but those two-fingered massages were actually pretty good, and way better than I was expecting."

"...and then they all took off their robes and I was like, Arrrrooooga!" said Toad, making eye popping gestures with his hands.

"Most of the massages were pretty terrible," said Amanda.

"About halfway through the massages I started to think, hang on, maybe I'm not applying enough pressure," Pyro said.

Lance shook his head. "I'm just glad it's over."

"I actually really enjoyed it once the nerves wore off," said Scott.

"I don't know who it was, but there was this one guy who was pushing so hard into my skin it was actually painful," said Jean. "I mean hello! I was going 'ow, ow, owww,' and he didn't seem to get it. I thought these guys were supposed to be smart. I wanted to telekinetically throw his hands off me. Actually, come to think of it, there were a few sets of hands I wanted to do that to."

X-23 was silent for a long moment before finally saying: "I applied the lessons I had learned from the study materials and Remy's instruction."

"It weird," said Wanda. "I was completely adverse to any of them massaging on my bare back, but I didn't really like Rogue's or...that other woman's massage either. The gloves were really impersonal. I didn't think it would bother me that much, but it did."

"I went for the button-mashing-on-the-game-controller technique," said Fred.

"A few of them did the karate chop thing," said Kitty, pulling a face. "Yeah, I really hate that."

"It's been a long time since I was that close to so much skin," Rogue said. "I kept checking my gloves for holes even thought I knew there wasn't going to be any, and I changed them for each massage too. I haven't gone through that many gloves in a while either."

"There was a handful that weren't too bad," Gambit said. "The one I rated highest had good, strong hands. The technique was a little off, but with practice I'm pretty sure he's going to have a very lucky girlfriend one day."

"I have used so much massage oil these last few days, I think it's engrained into my skin," Kurt said, sniffing at his fingers.

Finally, the massages came to an end. The Beauties got up and stood by their partners while Taryn, Risty, Duncan and Paul took off. The Geeks and Beauties waited impatiently while the points were tallied.

"Okay," said Spyke. "The votes have been tallied. The two Geeks who gave the best massages are... Piotr—"

Piotr just stared. It didn't even register at first that his name had been called. Kitty had to give him a little nudge before he realise he should move and stand in front of the group.

"—and Laura."

X-23 marched up front and stood at attention. Gambit grinned. He still thought that X-23's massage was a little on the mechanical side, but given the overall quality of the massages, he agreed that X-23's would have been one of the better ones.

"And the winner of the massage challenge...is..." Spyke said, drawing it out as usual, "Piotr."

Kitty squealed and pounced on a flabbergasted Piotr with a hug. Piotr somehow managed to hug Kitty back.

"Congratulations, Piotr," Spyke said. "You've won the challenge, and the change to send another team to the elimination room. I'll see you and Kitty, and Remy and Laura, for your decision tomorrow night."

* * *

><p>The Beauties and Geeks spent the evening with a little pool party. Unlike the first time, X-23 was persuaded to change into her bikini and join everyone else in the pool. Gambit had insisted she needed to socialise more. She felt a little awkward being in the swimming pool and not actually swimming, and ended up joining Amara and a few others in the hot tub.<p>

Toad partially got into the pool; he just sat on the edge and dangled his feet in. He hated having the showers that Wanda had insisted on, and he didn't like using the deodorant either, but for once no one was complaining that he stank.

Rogue, Pyro and Fred stayed in their normal clothes. Rogue didn't want to hurt anyone, Fred was a little insecure about being half-naked in front of everyone, and Pyro just didn't like water. Rogue and Fred played chess, and Pyro played games with the flames from lighted candles.

As everyone mingled, Gambit observed. Jean and Scott were getting cozy in the hot tub again. Lance and Kurt vied for Kitty's attention while Piotr quietly looked on. Toad tried for Wanda's attention while she chatted with Pyro, who entertained her with a flame bird. Tabitha and Amanda chatted with anyone and everyone. Gambit found it interesting to see how things had changed—and not changed—since their arrival at the mansion; all the different relationship dynamics.

He couldn't wait to find out how everything would change once more after the elimination.

* * *

><p>The following day, Gambit, X-23, Kitty and Piotr took time out of their hectic schedule of amusing themselves to discuss who they would send to the elimination room. They gathered in Kitty and Piotr's bedroom and sat on the double bed which Kitty and Piotr shared (much to Piotr's embarrassment, although he was starting to get used to the arrangement).<p>

"Okay," said Kitty. "I don't want Amanda and Kurt to go to elimination."

"Why?" Gambit asked shooting her a teasing grin. "It wouldn't have anything to liking Kurt at all?"

"Kurt's sweet," Kitty said, refusing to rise to the bait. "And I don't want to send Wanda and Toad either. I mean, they've already been in elimination. I just don't think it would be fair."

"Me neither," Piotr said with a nod of agreement.

"By that logic, we're not sending Rogue and Lance either," Gambit said.

Kitty let out a long, slow breath. "Yeah, I like Lance. Don't really know Rogue very well. I mean, I don't want to send anyone who's been in elimination before, because that's mean, but they're not exactly getting on as a team either."

"I think it would be worth giving him a chance this time," said Piotr seriously. "Rogue actually gave him—and the rest of the Beauties—a massage yesterday, and no one was hurt."

"With any luck, that was just the kick in the ass he needed, hein?" Gambit asked, and then looked at X-23, who was fidgeting with the quilt. "Laura? Thoughts? Opinions?"

X-23's head shot up. She caught Gambit's eyes, was silent for a long moment, and finally said: "I think that Tabitha and Scott are a strong team, and a likely threat."

"Well, if we send in Tabitha and Scott," Kitty said, "then I don't want to send in Jean and Fred. Jean and Scott have gotten pretty friendly, and I think that whoever comes out from that elimination with be mad at both of us for splitting them up. At least if we send in Tabitha and Scott against...someone else, there's a chance Scott and Jean won't be split up."

"Well, the only other team we haven't ruled out yet is Amara and Pyro," said Gambit. "I think they're a strong team too, so it's probably a good match."

"Ugh, Amara's a brat," said Kitty. "She acts like she's royalty or something."

* * *

><p>Much later that day, the Beauties and Geeks gathered on the staircase. Gambit and X-23, Kitty and Piotr stood on either side of Spyke in front of the staircase. Everyone looked down at them.<p>

"Ladies and Gentlemen," said Spyke. "It's time for another elimination. Remy, Piotr, you two both won your challenges for your teams. Remy, Laura: who have you decided to send to the elimination room?"

"We decided to send Scott and Tabitha," Gambit said, looking directly at the couple. "We think you're a strong team, and there's not much more from this experience that you two can learn in comparison with others."

"Scott, Tabitha," Spyke said. "Anything to say?"

"I think you're wrong," said Scott, and Gambit got the impression Scott was glaring at him through his red glasses. "I think that a wise man realises that he should never stop learning."

"Very insightful," Gambit replied dryly. "I think you just proved my point."

"Tabitha?" Spyke prompted.

"Well, I guess I can't be too insulted if someone thinks I'm smart enough to be a threat," Tabthia said, and Gambit grinned at her.

"Piotr, Kitty," Spyke then said, turning to the other team. "Who have you decided to send to the elimination room?"

Piotr cleared his throat and avoided looking anyone in the eye as he spoke: "Amara and Pyro."

"And why did you pick them?" Spyke prompted as Amara became visibly upset.

"We thought that they were a strong team as well, and that an even match would be fairer," said Piotr.

"Amara, Pyro," said Spyke. "Anything you'd like to say?"

Amara shook her head slightly, her lips pressed tightly together.

"Nope," said Pyro. "You gotta do whatcha gotta do."

"Alright—" Spyke started to say.

"Umm, if I can just say something," Kitty said, and waited until Spyke gestured for her to go ahead before she continued: "We seriously considered sending Lance and Rogue to the elimination room because, well, Lance you like, totally neglected Rogue this challenge. And it was really sweet of Remy to help Rogue out, but he shouldn't have had to do that. And I know that like, Rogue, you've made a few of us nervous, but, well, I don't know about everyone else, but _I'm_ feeling really silly about letting that stop me from getting to know you. So, Lance, seriously, I like you, but you need to change your ways next challenge, because if you go on neglecting Rogue, and Petey and I win again, we will send you guys back to elimination. Neither of you are going to get anything out of this experience unless you work as a team. Umm...that's all."

"Lance, Rogue," Spyke said, looking over at them. "Anything you'd like to say? That's twice now you've been called out on your inability to get along."

"Yeah," Rogue said with a sly smirk and a tone in her voice that delighted Gambit. "It is, isn't it?"

"Whatever," Lance muttered, and ignored the harsh frown Kitty sent in his direction.

"Okay, Tabitha and Scott, Amara and Pyro," said Spyke. "Pack your bags, say your good byes, and meet me in the elimination room."

* * *

><p>Later still, Tabitha, Scott, Amara and Pyro entered the elimination room.<p>

"Welcome to the elimination room," said Spyke. "For one of you, the journey will end here. Beauties, you will be answering questions about cars. Geeks, you will be answering questions about massage."

He went on to explain how the elimination would work, and then sent the Geeks to the elimination room. Once he was informed through his earpiece that Pyro and Scott were seated with the door shut, Spyke turned his attention to the women.

"Tabitha, your team was picked first," Spyke said. "Which number would you like?"

"Number two, please," Tabitha said.

"Two," Spyke said as he reached over and picked the cardboard up off the stand. "What is the word used to describe how thick or thin the oil is?"

Tabitha drew a blank.

"Uhh..." she said uncertainly. "Thickness?"

"That is incorrect," said Spyke. "The correct answer is viscosity."

"Dammit," Tabitha muttered under her breath.

"Amara, please pick a number."

"One, thank you Spyke," said Amara.

"Windshield wipers have blades made of what?"

"Rubber."

"That is correct," said Spyke.

In the viewing room, Pyro cheered. Scott gave him a nod. They watched and listened as Tabitha and Amara then got their second questions correct. Spyke called the Geeks back to the elimination room.

"Sorry," Tabitha said to Scott as he entered.

"You were fine," he replied, while Pyro gave Amara a thumbs up and she rolled her eyes.

"The score is one to two, in favour of Amara and Pyro," said Spyke. "Ladies, please go to the viewing room."

"Good luck," Tabitha said to Scott, and she and Amara departed.

Again, Spyke waited until he got his cue through his ear piece, and then he turned his attention to Scott and Pyro.

"Pyro," he said. "Please, pick a number."

"Three," Pryo replied.

"Three," Spyke said, and picked up the relevant question card. "What is the name of the Japanese massage therapy that literally translates to 'finger pressure'?"

"Shiatsu," Pyro replied.

"That is correct," said Spyke. "Scott, the score is one to three. You have to get this question right to stay in the game. What number would you like?"

"One please," Scott replied after a moment's pause.

"One," Spyke said, and continued reading from the card: "Massage combined with certain scents and oils is commonly referred to as what?

Scott paused for a moment. "Aromatherapy?"

"That is correct," said Spyke. "Pyro, the score is now two to three. If you get this question right, you and Amara stay in the game, and Scott and Tabitha go home. What number would you like?"

"Four."

* * *

><p>The Beauties and Geeks waited impatiently in the bedroom for the surviving team to arrive. There was some idle chatter to begin with, but it settled into silence. Finally, they head the clacking of heels walking across the wooden floor. The door opened just enough for a female leg to slide through as a teaser. Those who paid attention to things like shoes knew Amara and Pyro had won before the door opened completely.<p>

Wanda immediately jumped up and hugged Pyro while Amanda also welcomed Amara back with a hug. While most of the guys also welcomed them back, Kitty and Jean were both disappointed it wasn't Scott and Tabitha returning. Jean hadn't wanted herself and Scott to be broken up, and Kitty just wasn't a fan of Amara. Judging from the look Amara sent in her direction, Amara wasn't a fan of Kitty either.

* * *

><p>Outside at the same time, Scott and Tabitha were seated in front of the camera. Tabitha was in tears.<p>

"I still feel like there's a lot more I could have learned," Scott said.

"I'm not ready to go home," Tabitha said between sniffles. "I love everyone, and we were just starting to really get to know each other and I...I..."

Scott awkwardly put his arm around her.

"I will miss the others," he said, paused and then added: "Especially Jean. I hope when this is over that Jean and I will see each other again."


	4. Episode 4

**AN:**Thanks go to those on my Facebook page who helped me pick the winner of the Geek's challenge.

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 4<strong>

"Mad at you?" Amara said to Kitty with a voice that was dripping with scorn. "Why would I be mad at you? Oh that's right; you sent me to elimination, you bitch."

Kitty glared at Amara across the breakfast table. "We had to send _someone_. You should know all about that. You've been there before."

"Yes, I have," Amara replied scornfully, "and at least we had the decency to send a team that wasn't working and making everyone else miserable."

"I wasn't going to send Rogue and Lance back into elimination two weeks in a row," Kitty said firmly. "No one deserves to be bullied, and that's what that would have been."

"How terrible!" Amara mocked her. "They're not pulling their weight, they don't deserve to be here, and I resent Pyro and I being used as a substitute just so you can feel good about yourself. Know this, Kitty-cat, when Pyro and I win next challenge, we're sending you."

"And your little dog too," Pyro added in his impersonation of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Amanda covered her mouth to smother her giggles.

"I'm sorry," Wanda cut in. "Am I hearing this right? Weren't you two lecturing me and Toad about sending people in out of revenge?"

Amara smiled sweetly at Wanda. "Oh, I'm sure Kitty won't mind. In fact, I think she'll completely understand, especially if it's a choice between her and Piotr, and a team that's already been in the elimination room, won't you Kitty?"

"Oh don't worry, Amara," Kitty said. "I understand perfectly."

* * *

><p>"Ladies and gentlemen," Spyke said when next the Beauties and Geeks gathered in the study. "Ready for your next challenge?"<p>

A mix of 'yes' and 'no's followed. Spyke grinned.

"We all notice different things when we walk into a room. Some of your probably notice the lighting, the colour scheme, the décor; while other probably notice the TV, the gym equipment, the gaming system..."

"Yes!" Fred cheered.

"Well, for your next challenge, Geeks, you'll be learning all about interior decorating."

A number of groans followed.

"And Beauties," Spyke went on, "you'll be learning all about computers."

Another, louder series of groans followed.

"Here are your study materials. I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

><p>Kitty decided that the best way to teach Piotr about interior design was to take him on a tour of the mansion and for them to talk about the different fixtures and features in each room. She liked that he was a very attentive listener, and she hoped that his artistic inclinations would work in their favour during the Geek challenge.<p>

Most of the other Beauties thought that this was a good idea, and they did the same thing with their Geeks. They kept bumping into each other all over the place.

x-x-x

Lance and Rogue studied alone in their bedroom, and didn't say a word to each other. Rogue honestly didn't care if she got sent back into the elimination room. For Carol's sake, she would do the best she could, but she refused to be the one to make the first move with Lance. He was the one who had been called out for his poor behaviour, therefore he had to make the first move. In the meantime, Rogue was quite happy to sit on her bed and read through the study material.

Lance was also on his bed, attempting to make sense of what he was reading. He found it hard to concentrate. He wanted to win the money, and he couldn't do that if they got sent home. As much as it pained him to admit it, even to himself, computers were not his strong suit. He only knew enough about computers to get him through school and work. He'd never actually had a computer of his own.

"So," Lance said, the first word either of them had spoken to each other since the last elimination, "I don't think I'll be able to help you with all that interior design crap. Not my thing."

"That's fine," Rogue replied, not even bothering to lift her head from the book as she flipped the page. "I've had plenty of decorating experience and many heated discussions about the same with Carol."

"Who's Carol?"

"My housemate. We took decorating our apartment very seriously."

"You have a housemate?"

"Don't sound so surprised. I'm not a hermit."

"Huh."

Another long silence followed, and Rogue sighed to herself. She supposed that counted as a 'first move'.

"How are you with computers?" she asked.

Lance hesitated. He didn't want to ask for help, but he didn't want to look stupid in front of anyone for the challenge either. And who knew what the challenge would be? Somehow he didn't think it was going to be as easy as sending an email. He licked his lips.

"I...might need a hand...later," he said very slowly, not willing to look at her.

"Okay," Rogue replied, internally rolling her eyes. "Just gimme a yell when you do."

* * *

><p>For dinner that night, Gambit had perused the kitchen and realised he had exactly what he needed to make up a batch of nachos. Which he did; a very hot and spicy batch of nachos, just to his taste.<p>

"It's hot," Gambit warned everyone who expressed an interest in it once it was made up.

He was then granted the opportunity to say "I told you so" when certain people tried it and couldn't handle it. Much to his surprise, however, not only did X-23 help herself to a nice big serving, she also added extra spice.

"Are you crazy?" Amara asked while fanning her mouth as Pyro got her a glass of milk.

X-23 quite calmly ate her first mouthful and swallowed happily, completely unfazed.

"I like hot food," she said, and filled up her fork again.

Gambit laughed. "I like you, chère."

* * *

><p>About midday the following day, the Geeks were asked to meet Spyke in the foyer. They stood on the stairs while Spyke gave them their instructions away from the ears of their Beauties.<p>

"For your challenge, you will be decorating a bedroom," Spyke told him once all were ready. "The Beauties will be the judges of this challenge, and they will not be told which room is which. You will have a budget of $1500 to buy everything you need to decorate the bedroom, and we're going shopping...now."

No long thereafter, the Geeks piled into the mini bus, and were driven downtown. On the way they were given additional information about the room; the size of the available space, what the pre-existing furniture was, things like that.

Upon their arrival at the store, the Geeks each got a shopping trolley and a camera crew to follow them around. They all set off in different directions. Some of them had decided on what they wanted to do on the way, while the others wanted to see what was in the store first before making plans.

Pyro knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had envisioned one of the characters from his books and decided to decorate the bedroom to match his personality. He was off like a shot, looking for everything he was thinking of, and subsequently got frustrated on multiple occasions when he couldn't find precisely what he was imagining even amongst the store's extensive range.

Toad was determined to impress Wanda by any means necessary. As he went through the store, with no real plan, he picked up anything and everything he thought that she would appreciate. Fred had a similar train of thought, although he had more of a plan, and less of a crush on his Beauty, Jean.

Once Piotr decided on his colour scheme, he had no problems collecting what he wanted in order to pull it off.

Rogue was a little put off by the fact that the Beauties were going to be judging. She knew what she wanted to do; a gothic style bedroom, not dissimilar to the style of her bedroom at home. She also figured if she did that, the Beauties would have no problems figuring out which room was hers. She contemplating going with more Carol's style, but she really did not share Carol's taste, and couldn't bring herself to decorate a room in such a way for the challenge.

Her indecision brought her wandering to the kids section, where she found X-23 holding a stuffed toy dog. X-23 looked up at Rogue and an almost guilty expression appeared on her face.

"He's cute," Rogue said.

X-23's guilty expression faded. "Yes."

Rogue gave her a smile and started looking through the different shelves and displays. X-23 reluctantly put the dog down and started walking again. Rogue noticed X-23's indecision.

"Can't decide what you want?" Rogue asked as she flipped through the available bed sets.

"Remy said I should pick a theme when decorating a room," X-23 replied, looking around with a bewildered look in her eye. "He said that will help keep things co-ordinated."

"Can't decide on a theme, huh?"

"No," X-23 said, wandering over to Rogue.

"I hear you," Rogue said, pulling out one of the set to have a better look. "Too many themes to choose from. How do you pick just one?"

"I do not know."

"Hmm," Rogue said, and then pulled out another set, this one with a dog print on it.

"Can dogs be a theme?" X-23 asked, her eyes locked on the bed set.

"Sure," Rogue replied, pulling the bed set out all the way. "You like dogs?"

X-23 seemed to hesitate and then accepted the bed set from her. "Yes."

"I like dogs too," Rogue said. "Well, I'd better start making some decisions on my own room. Good luck, sugah."

A couple of hours later, there was an announcement over the PA system, telling the Geeks that their times was up. The Geeks pushed their trolleys back to the registers where their things were paid for. Then the crew took over their purchases, and the Geeks were taken back to the mansion.

* * *

><p>While the Geeks were busy shopping, the Beauties were busy not studying. They spent first hour or so noticing how quiet the mansion was without their Geeks. They couldn't believe just how used they'd gotten to spending time with them.<p>

Lance decided to take advantage of the relative quiet to snare some alone time with Kitty on one of the balconies:

"So," she said, doing a few stretches against the railing. "How's things with Rogue?"

Lance grimaced at the question and shrugged. "Okay, I guess. We can't really help each other this time anyway. I don't know a thing about interior decorating."

Kitty laughed and Lance admired her flexibility as she lifted her leg above her head.

"Anyway, enough about Rogue," Lance said. "I'd much rather talk about you."

"Oh would you now?" Kitty asked, flashing him a coy smile.

While Lance was busy chatting up and otherwise attempting to steal a kiss from Kitty, the rest of the Beauties were in the hot tub. Amara and Amanda sat on one side, while Gambit sat on the other inbetween Jean and Wanda.

"I'm serious!" Amanda said. "There's always a stack of blue fur on the floor every time Kurt uses the shower. He's like a cat shedding his coat or something."

"Fur?" Jean said. "Okay, I know he's hairy, but I wouldn't call him furry."

"Either way, it's gross," said Amanda.

"At least Kurt doesn't need to be threatened before he washes himself," Wanda pointed out.

"True, I guess," Amanda replied.

"Heh," Gambit said with a chuckle. "Just imagine what hanging around Kurt would be like if he didn't shower. Every time he teleports it smells like fire and brimstone."

Amanda turned up her nose. "Eww."

"I'd really rather not," Amara said. "Pyro hates water, but he tolerates it long enough to shower at least."

"I'm amazed Fred even fits in the shower," Jean said.

The girls giggled and Gambit took a swig of his beer.

"What about Laura?" Amanda asked Gambit. "Shower or no shower?"

"She showers," Gambit replied after swallowing. "Twice a day, actually; in the morning after her work out, and again before bed. No blue fur on the floor. Although, I did find some blood in there the other night after she'd been in there for awhile, which was odd. She hadn't injured herself anywhere as far as I knew."

"Blood huh? That is weird," Amara said.

"Umm, no I don't think it is," Wanda said, a slight smirk appearing on her face. "I mean, I don't know about you gals, but I've occasionally gotten blood on the shower floor without having any injuries."

Jean started laughing, immediately grasping what Wanda was alluding to. "Me too."

Amanda frowned. "What are you talking abou-oh..."

Gambit raised his eyebrows as Amanda's face started to go red. He had a feeling he should know what they were alluding to.

Amara sniffed. "Really, this conversation is disgusting. Honestly, _some_ things should remain private."

"Oh merde," Gambit said as the penny finally dropped. "Oui, please, let's change the subject before anyone confirms for me that this conversation is about what I think it's about."

Wanda giggled. "Why, Remy? I think it's fun freaking guys out by talking about that time of the—"

"La la la," Gambit said, covering his ears. "I can't hear you."

The girls all laughed.

* * *

><p>The following day, the Geeks were driven to a building wherein eight three-walled rooms had been set up all in a row. They'd all been painted in advance, although most of them were white. In each room there was a bedside table and a dresser. In front of each room was the assigned Geek's purchases from the day before.<p>

"Okay Geeks," said Spyke. "Time to get started."

The Geeks had the bulk of the morning to put their rooms together, and they wasted no time getting to work. Furniture was moved, the bed made, decorations were put into place. They were also free to use their mutations, so Rogue sunk nails into the wall with her finger and didn't bother using the ladder. Fred also used his finger rather than the hammer to put nails into the wall. Pyro did what he called "artistic scorching" of his walls, and only the fact that his mutation was all about controlling fire prevented him from being reprimanded for endangering the others.

Slowly but surely, the rooms were put together. Finally, when the time was up, the Geeks were instructed to stand up outside their rooms and talk briefly about their work to the camera crew as they visited each one, starting with Fred's.

Fred's room was all about the leopard print: leopard print bed set, leopard print drapes hanging from the walls, leopard print lamp on the bedside table, leopard print cloth draped over the dresser. There were candles everywhere, and a number of tall vases with one or two long-stemmed roses in them.

"Girls like cats and candles and roses, right?" Fred said.

Kurt's room had lots of bright colours. A mirror with a thick, yellow border hung on the bold green wall above the dresser, which held a collection of fun and odd looking ornaments. In one corner was a tall lamp and in the other was a tall, narrow pot full of fake flowers. A clock that rotated backwards, and had the numbers back-to-front, was on the wall opposite to the mirror.

"I had a lot of fun putting my room together," Kurt said.

The bed covers in Rogue's room were pink and a little teddy bear sat against the pillow. On the white walls were butterfly prints. There was a little pink lamp on the beside table. On the dresser there were a couple of dolls. In one corner was a dollhouse. A cute pink clock was on one wall, and a set of pink curtains on another wall (despite the fact that there was no window).

"I figured I can decorate a room for an adult any time," Rogue said. "I'm probably never going to have the chance to decorate a kids room, though, so why not?"

Piotr's room was quite simple. The colour scheme was white, pale blue and dark blue. There was an alarm clock on the bedside table and a couple of simple but elegant sconces on the opposing walls. A tall mirror stood across from the dresser. There were two pillows on the bed, one in a blue pillow case and the other in a white one. A small painting hung on the wall above the bed.

"I felt that relaxing colours were appropriate for a bedroom," said Piotr. "I also didn't want it to be too busy with a lot of decorative objects."

X-23's bed had dog-themed covers, and a stuffed toy dog sat just in front of the dog-themed pillows. There was a mirror hanging above the dresser, and a lamp and an alarm clock on the bedside table. On the floor was a small rug with a picture of a dog on it.

"The theme is dogs," X-23 said matter-of-factly.

Pyro's room had bright yellow walls with multiple scorch marks. The bed was made with a flame-themed bed set. There was a red, abstract lamp in one corner, and a small bookcase in the other. Pyro had also gone to all the effort of making it look like there was a lot of books in the bookshelf by creating a cardboard front for each shelf upon which he painted the spines of a lot of books packed together. On the dresser was a multitude of seemingly random objects.

"My room was inspired by a character from one of my books," Pyro said. "He is an elementalist who specialises in fire magic. He keeps his books and the tools of his trade in his room, and has been known to have a few accidents occasionally, hence the scorch marks on the walls."

Toad's room had red walls, a red bedspread with white sheets. There was red fabric draped from the opposing walls, canopy style. On the bedside table there was a lamp. The dresser top was covered in red flowers and candles. There was a sconce on one wall that was fitted with matching candles. In one corner was a stylish red and black divider.

"I really wanted to create a bedroom that would make Wanda happy," said Toad. "And she likes scarlet and candles."

The Geeks were sent out, the crew placed a number in each room, and then the Beauties were brought in. Each Beauty was given a pen and clipboard with a survey sheet for them to rate the rooms on. They stood in a group in front of the rooms, facing Spyke, who gave them their instructions and then sent them off to begin their inspections. Lance, Kitty and Jean started at one end, while Gambit, Wanda, Amara and Amanda started at the other.

"Wow," Amara said, looking around at Fred's leopard print room. "So, Remy, I guess this room will be getting your first place vote?"

"You wound me, chère," Gambit replied, meeting her sly look with a mock-offended expression. "I don't do tacky."

"So it won't be Laura's then?" Amanda asked as she looked over the things on the dresser.

"I sure hope not."

The four drifted onwards to the next room, Kurt's. As Gambit looked around at all the bold colours, he wondered if this one might be X-23's; she didn't really strike him as a 'bright colours' kind of girl, but then she didn't really strike him as a 'spicy, "if it's not melting the wax in your ears, it's not hot enough" food' kind of girl either. In any case, the room was a little too gaudy for his tastes (although not as bad as the leopard print room).

"There's something wrong with that clock," Amanda said, frowning at it. "I can't quite put my finger on it but..."

"It's backwards," Wanda said after a quick glance, and then pointed in the mirror. "See? It reads perfectly in the mirror."

Amara shook her head as she made a note on her sheet. "I hope the rooms improve after this."

The third room they looked at was Rogue's little girl room. Gambit found himself wondering if this might be X-23's room too; sure she might walk around in dark clothes, but he was convinced every girl had a pink phase.

"Aww this is cute," said Amanda. "Definite improvement."

"Bit too girly for me," Gambit said, giving Wanda a wink, who grinned back at him.

"Aww, it has a dollhouse," said Amanda, kneeling down beside it. "I always wanted a dollhouse when I was little."

Amara snickered.

"Oh right," said Amanda, standing up and shooting Amara a look. "Like you didn't."

Gambit chuckled likely while Amara retorted, and moved onto the next room. Gambit looked around Piotr's room with a nod of his head, and decided that this was his favourite room so far. Then he heard a few "aww"s from Kitty and Jean in the room after, and he peered around the corner to see X-23's dog-themed room, and Lance rolling his eyes at the girls' reactions.

"I think one of the Geeks has gotten sneaky, Lance," Gambit said, grinning. "They figured out that girls like cute things like puppies."

"Ahh, smart," Lance said, rubbing his chin with his pen hand thoughtfully. "Even if they only appeal to the girls, that's still five votes out of seven."

"Oh shush you," said Kitty. "It's a cute room."

"Sure," said Lance. "'Cute.' What's that room like, Remy?"

"Blue," Gambit replied as Lance wandered over to join him in Piotr's room. "So far this is the only one I wouldn't be completely embarrassed to be caught sleeping in."

Lance chuckled as Wanda, Amanda and Amara walked into Piotr's room.

"Hey, that other room was cute," said Amanda.

"This one's better though," said Amara, looking around at the various features of the room.

As Kitty and Jean also walked into Piotr's room, Gambit moved on properly into X-23's room. During his inspection he concluded that it wasn't really all that bad. The breeds of dogs on each item weren't exactly co-ordinated, but that didn't really bother him. Might bother some of the girls if they were finicky about those kind of things, he supposed.

Gambit moved onto Pyro's room as Amara, Amanda and Wanda walked into X-23's. Gambit took one look at the scorch marks on the wall and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Amanda asked, peered around the corner, and then took in the firey colour-scheme of Pyro's room. "Oooooh, hey Amara? I think this is Pyro's room."

Curious, Amara looked. Her eyes landed on the first scorch mark on the wall and she groaned. "Please, please no."

"Well," Gambit said and he turned on his heel in Pyro's room, "the guy does know how to make an impression."

"Ugh," Amara muttered.

She went back to X-23's room, and Gambit moved onto the final room. Gambit didn't think that Toad's effort was all that bad, though, of course, he had no idea that it was Toad who was responsible. There were way too many candles for his tastes, but he could see some of the girls going for a bedroom like this.

Wanda, Amanda and Amara caught up with Gambit as he was starting to rate the rooms on his sheet.

"Wow," Wanda said as she looked around. "This room's actually pretty good. And I love the colour."

"Gee," Gambit said, looking Wanda over in her little red dress, "I wonder why?"

Wanda grinned at him and Amara looked around with a please nod of her head.

"I agree," said Amara. "I think this is my favourite actually."

"I still like the little girl's room," said Amanda. "So cute!"

The Beauties were given a little more time to inspect and rate the rooms, and then they handed in their clipboards. They stood around chatting while the score were tallied, and then they were asked to form a line.

"Okay, Beauties," said Spyke. "Let's bring in the designers."

On cue, the Geeks emerged through a nearby door and stood by their respective partners. Spyke gave the Geeks the go ahead to show their Beauties which room was theirs.

"Guess which one's mine," Kurt said, leading Amanda on.

"Umm, that one?" Amanda said, pointing at Piotr's.

"Nope."

"That one?" Amanda asked, now pointing at Rogue's, although Rogue and Lance were already standing silently in front of it.

"Nope," Kurt said, and stopped proudly in front of his room. "This one."

"Oh," Amanda said, looking around again at the brightly coloured room. "I should have guessed. I hate that clock."

Kurt glanced at his backwards clock and grinned. "Why?"

"I can't read it," she said. "Stupid thing not going the right way, all the numbers in the wrong place. Meh."

On the other end, Toad stopped in front of his room and looked up hopefully at Wanda.

"This is your room?" Wanda asked in surprise.

"Yup," Toad replied. "You like?"

Wanda nodded slowly. She was honestly surprised that Toad was the designer of her favourite room.

"Yeah. I like," she said, paused and then added with a growing smile: "You did great."

X-23 stood at attention at her room.

"Huh," Gambit said. "I never would have picked you as a dog lover, chère."

X-23 didn't so much as twitch.

"It looks great," he added. Sure it wasn't his personal taste, but it wasn't a bad room.

Fred scratched his head as Jean buried her face in her hands. "Does that mean you don't like it?"

Jean lifted her head.

"It's fine, Fred, just fine," she said, then added under her breath: "If you're a pimp."

Kitty was rather excited to find out which one was Piotr's, and she congratulated him on a job well done.

"Scorch marks on the wall?" Amara exclaimed. "What were you thinking?"

"It's in character!" Pyro replied enthusiastically.

"Okay," Spyke said, his voice cutting through the chatter. "The Geeks with the two highest rated rooms are...Piotr—"

Piotr sucked in his breath and Kitty grabbed his arm excitedly.

"—and Toad."

Toad's face lit up so fast, anyone would think it was Christmas. Wanda liked his room _and_ he was in the running to win the challenge? This was the best day ever!

"And the winner is..." Spyke said, "Toad."

"Whoohoo!" Toad yelled.

He leaped up into the air with joy and did a triple back somersault. A few more excited bounces later and he was wrapping his arms tightly around Wanda's waist, declaring loudly that he couldn't have done it without her.

"You were my inspiration, babycakes," he said, snuggling really close to her.

"Oh, well, that's great," Wanda replied, torn between wanting to push him off her and not wanting to ruin his moment of victory. "Can you please stop calling me babycakes?"

The crew stopped shooting, and another team arrived, armed with boxes and desks. They placed a desk just in front of each of the rooms, and placed a medium-sized cardboard box beside it. When the crew was done and ready, Spyke addressed the contestants again.

"Okay Beauties," he said. "Now it's time for your challenge. In the box there is a computer. Your job is to take the computer out of the box, assemble it, turn it on, connect to the internet, download a song, burn it to CD, and the first Beauty to play that CD on the player that's also in the box, wins."

Spyke gave them a moment to absorb that before continuing: "No powers may be used for this challenge. You may ask your Geeks questions, but they can't do it for you, and that may not volunteer information. Your time starts...now."

There was a rush as all the Beauties began opening up their boxes and pulling out the contents: the computer, the cables, the monitor and the CD player. Gambit appeared to be rushing as well, although he wasn't really interested in winning another challenge, let alone two in a row. Of course, with his partner watching he had to be careful he was seen to be doing his best. It was a fine line to walk, but Gambit was enjoying the challenge of walking that line. It was much more interesting than putting a computer together and burning a CD.

Lance was feeling relieved even as he rushed to plug cables into the back of the computer. He could plug in cables and burn CDs, no problem. He had been worried they'd have to do things with motherboards and RAM and stuff like that he had no clue about.

It took Amara a little while before she figured out that the cables were colour-coded.

Amanda's long fingernails, although gorgeous, kept getting in her way both while she was trying to plug cables in and while she was trying to type.

Although there was fumbling from all parties, the race remained fairly close. Lance, Kitty and Wanda beat everyone else getting their computers on. From where Spyke stood, it was impossible for him to tell which one of them was in the lead, although later on he would do a commentary for when the show went to air. Lance, Kitty and Wanda inserted their CDs into the burner within moments of each other, then it was a waiting game while the song they each downloaded was burned to the CD.

Then the CD burner on Kitty's computer opened up. She whipped it out of the tray, placed it into the CD player, which she had plugged in and opened up earlier, shut the lid and hit the play button. The Beauty and the Geek theme song began to play.

"And Kitty's won," Spyke announced as the other Beauties heard the music and stopped what they were doing.

"Yay!" Kitty cheered, clapping her hands excitedly.

"Congratulations again, Kitty and Toad," Spyke said. "You've won your respective challenges. Now go home, relax, and enjoy your victory. I'll see you tomorrow night for your decision on who you choose to send to the elimination room."

As everyone prepared to leave, Kitty sighed.

"Yeah, that's a great way to celebrate a victory," she said dryly to Piotr. "Figure out which one of our friends we want to kick out of the house. Oh joy."

* * *

><p>Gambit was pretty sure he was the only one excited about the upcoming elimination, and for that he was careful not to reveal how he felt to the others. He was reasonably confident that Wanda and Toad wouldn't send him and X-23; he and Wanda got along, and there was no way Toad would go against Wanda's wishes. They had bigger fish to fry anyway.<p>

Kitty and Piotr, on the other hand, well, if they were determined to stick with their self-appointed rule about not repeat sending teams to the elimination room, that meant they only had three teams to choose from, since they couldn't choose to send themselves: Jean and Fred, Amanda and Kurt, X-23 and himself. Gambit was pretty sure they wouldn't send Amanda and Kurt since they were close, so Gambit figured there was a 50 percent chance he and X-23 would end up in the elimination room.

He couldn't wait to find out.

Amara, on the other hand, was positively dreading the coming elimination. She knew that Kitty and Wanda didn't really like her all that much (nor she them) and was convinced that one of them—probably Wanda—would send herself and Pyro into elimination. She was even more convinced of this when Wanda, Toad, Kitty and Piotr had their conference, and only disappeared for a couple of minutes. Amara hit the books hard and lectured Pyro on everything he did wrong with the challenge.

"I think," Pyro said later on, well out of Amara's hearing, "I understand what is meant by the phrase 'nagging wife.'"

* * *

><p>Toad and Wanda, Kitty and Piotr stood on either side of Spyke in the foyer, facing the rest of their housemates gathered on the stairs.<p>

"Toad, you won the Geek's interior design challenge," said Spyke. "Kitty, you won the Beauty's computer challenge. You won immunity for your teams, and the ability to send another team into the elimination room. Toad, Wanda, who have you chosen to send to elimination, and why?"

Amara caught her breath and squeezed Pyro's hand hard.

"Well," Toad said with a little bounce in his stance, "having been to the elimination room ourselves, we agreed with Kitty and Piotr's policy about not sending the same team repeatedly. So that helped narrow things down a bit. Umm, the team we chose, we think the Geek is already pretty outgoing, and the Beauty seems to be allergic to study: Kurt and Amanda."

Amara stared in shock. Kurt nodded while Amanda looked offended.

"I'm not allergic to study," Amanda huffed.

"Well it sure doesn't seem like you put in a whole lot of effort," said Wanda. "We're here to learn, but you seem more interested in being in the pool all day."

"Hey!"

"Kurt?" Spyke said. "Anything you'd like to add?"

Kurt gave a shrug. "They had to pick someone, and I can't blame them for trying to be fair."

Spyke nodded and then turned to Kitty and Piotr.

"Kitty, Piotr," he said. "Who have you chosen to send to the elimination room, and why?"

Gambit schooled his expression while he looked at Kitty and Piotr in anticipation of their response. Amara dared to look at Kitty, still expecting to be sent into the elimination room.

"This was a hard decision to make," said Kitty. "Like Toad said, only sending people who hadn't been there before did help to narrow things down. Of course, that didn't really make things any easier; we think that everyone here needs to be here. But, well, we felt that there was one team in particular that needed to be here just that little bit more than the other. So it's with a heavy heart we choose to send...Jean and Fred."

That surprised Gambit. While Spyke inquired after Jean and Fred for their responses, and Jean and Kitty both got teary, Gambit glanced over at his partner. He hadn't really thought much about the fact that everyone's opinions towards X-23 were just as critical as their feelings towards him. It was something he knew was important in theory, of course, but what with him doing much more to help her than she was to help him, he had all but forgotten they were supposed to be a team.

"Okay, Kurt and Amanda, Jean and Fred," Spyke said. "Go upstairs, pack, say your good byes, and I'll meet you in the elimination room."

Everyone turned and trudged up the stairs. A still-teary Kitty followed Jean to her room and helped her pack, then hurried over to Kurt and Amanda's room where she continued with the teary farewells.

Then the time was up. Their packed bags were taken downstairs, and Kurt, Amanda, Jean and Fred did the walk down the stairs to the elimination room. The rest of the housemates gathered in the first bedroom. Kitty looked despondently out the window while Piotr sat beside her and tried to comfort her. Gambit was distracted from his conversation with Wanda, Rogue, Toad and Pyro by this sight, and finally walked over and joined them.

"Hey Kitty," he said. "Pete."

Kitty sniffed. "Hey."

Piotr gave him a nod.

"Look, umm, I just wanted to say that I appreciate that this was a really hard decision for you," Gambit said. "I know you're close with both teams down there. I wouldn't have blamed you guys at all if you had sent Laura and I in. I was expecting it, actually."

"We thought about it," Piotr said. "You seem to be just as allergic to study as Amanda and Amara are."

Gambit raised an eyebrow. He hadn't thought his lack of attention to his own studies had been noticed.

"But, we also know you've been helping Laura a lot," Piotr went on, "and we feel she really needs to be here."

"She's just starting to come out of her shell," Kitty said with a furtive glance at the other girl. "We didn't like the idea of her going home just now."

Gambit spread his hands. "I don't either. I feel like I'm just starting to get some headway in getting to know her myself. Of course, if neither of us win the next challenges, I guess next elimination we'll be competing against each other."

Kitty sniffed and looked away. "I don't want to think about elimination. Any of them."

"Neither do I," Piotr said gently. "But we will all be going home sooner or later. We can only do our best to get the most out of this experience."

Gambit smiled as Piotr gave Kitty a gentle hug. X-23 wasn't the only one who had been coming out of their shell.

Almost inevitably, the group became quieter and quieter as more time passed. They all heard the front doors open and shut, and then a few moments later they heard the clacking of heels on the wooden floor. The footsteps stopped just outside the door. Everyone's eyes locked on the door, waiting anxiously for it to open...

There was a puff of blue smoke and everyone caught of whiff of brimstone as Kurt and Amanda appeared in the room, just in front of the door, arm in arm.

"Tada!" Kurt declared making a broad gesture with his free hand.

"Kurt!" Kitty exclaimed, running over to them, arms outstretched. "Amanda!"

There were hugs and congratulations all around.

"So, how'd it go?" asked Pyro.

"I'm afraid it wasn't much of a competition," Kurt said ruefully. "Fred and I went first; I got both of mine right, and Fred didn't get any. Then it was Jean and Amanda's turn. Jean went first, got hers wrong, and that was the end."

"So," Amara said, looking at Amanda. "You didn't end up answering any questions?"

"No," Amanda said and mimed wiping her forehead. "Phew, right?"

* * *

><p>At the same time, out the front, Jean and Fred sat in front of the cameras:<p>

"I wish we could have stayed longer," said Fred. "I feel like I learned a lot, but I don't think I learned as much as I could have."

"Yeah," Jean agreed. "It' been a great experience. Thanks Fred, for being such a good partner."

"No," Fred replied. "Thank _you_."


	5. Episode 5: Part 1

**Episode 5: Part 1**

Toad got out of the shower and dried off quickly. He grabbed his clothes and changed into his favourite—and only—pair of jeans, which had holes at the knees and showed other signs of long wear. He put on a white, long sleeved shirt and a brown short-sleeved top over that. He dried off his shaggy brown hair with a towel, looked in the mirror and gave himself what he considered to be a very debonair raise of the eyebrow. Satisfied with his appearance, he left the bathroom.

The last couple of days had largely been spent bumming around the mansion. It was nice to have a break—and Toad was sure that the crew agreed—but there was also an underlying anxiety: what would the next challenge be?

Not long after breakfast, everyone gathered in the study. Toad and Wanda were the first two there. As always, Wanda looked gorgeous in her little red dress. Gambit and X-23 soon joined them; Gambit in dark jeans and a tight muscle shirt; and X-23 in combat boots, cargo pants, and a shirt.

Toad grumbled a little when Pyro and Amara arrived and Pyro sat next to Wanda. He grumbled even more when Wanda looked at Pyro in his baggy orange clothes like she was happy to see him. Amara almost matched Pyro in her gold clothes.

Amanda wore black jeans and a loose but classy purple shirt. She sat on the other lounge by Kurt in his red pants and a shirt that said "To Err is Human, To Arr is Pirate". Kitty, pretty in pink, sat between Kurt and Piotr. Piotr wore a collared shirt and a pair of shorts.

Lance seemed a little annoyed that he couldn't sit next to Kitty. He was wearing blue jeans and a fitted white shirt. Rogue stood nearby in her usual layers of dark purple and black clothing, dog collar, and heavy make up.

Finally, Spyke entered the room and stood behind the desk. Normally there was something on the desk that would give a clue about the challenges, but there wasn't this time—something that did not go unnoticed by the housemates.

"Good morning," Spyke said, smiling at the group. "Ready to find out what you get to study next?

A chorus of affirmatives answered him.

"Well, I'm sorry, but your next challenge has no study materials," Spyke said, and grinned at everyone's shocked and anxious reactions to that. "That's because today is... Geek Makeover Day!"

Wanda, Kitty, Amara and Amanda promptly squealed and cheered in delight. Gambit gave a laugh and then winked at Rogue, who pretending not to notice and continued standing there with an apprehensive expression on her face that matched X-23's. Toad and Pyro cheered. Piotr and Kurt looked nervous, and a little amused by the reactions of the girl Beauties. Lance just nodded.

"That's right, Geeks," Spyke said. "Today you're going to be given a whole new look from head to toe, and everything in between; new clothes, hair cuts, shaving, even the dreaded wax."

"Noooooo!" Kurt said dramatically.

"So Beauties, take one last look at your Geeks, because they're leaving..." Spyke said, "right now."

Spyke gestured towards the door and the Geeks, some reluctantly, moved from their places towards the door.

"Don't worry so much," Amanda called after Kurt. "When you come back, you're gonna be hot."

"Aww, you mean I'm not already hot?" Kurt asked, walking backwards towards the door.

"Of course you're hot, Fuzzy Elf," Kitty said, grinning. "We just want more Elf, less Fuzzy."

Amanda giggled. "What she said."

Spyke followed the Geeks out the door, and shut it behind him, leaving the Beauties to have the mansion all to themselves for awhile. The Geeks piled into a mini bus which took them to their destination: a couple of clothes shops which had been booked out for exclusive access for the duration.

Piotr, Toad, Pyro and Kurt were directed to the menswear shop where they were introduced to their stylists, Alex Masters and Lorna Dane. In no time at all, the pair had their four Geeks trying on all sorts of clothes, some with more enthusiasm than others.

Rogue and X-23 met their stylist, Betsy Braddock, in the women's fashion shop. Betsy took one look at the girls and then started telling them what to try on. X-23 did so with some relief, feeling much more comfortable with having clear instructions. Rogue, on the other hand, ended up getting into an argument with her:

"I'm not wearing that," Rogue insisted, gesturing to the shirt made of sheer, thin, green material. "It's too much of a risk."

"I assure you," Betsy replied, "this will be adequate protection against—"

"Not if it rips."

"It won't rip."

"Oh yeah? Tell that to the one I wore to a concert when I was in high school," Rogue practically snarled at her. "Tell that to the half dozen people—at least—I absorbed at that concert when the whole sleeve was tore off. Tell that to all the people who looked after me while I spent the next six weeks recovering!"

"Fine," Betsy said tersely. "And I suppose you think stockings are out for the same reason?"

"One bitten, twice shy."

Betsy was not happy since it ruined some of her plans, but she prided herself on being able to improvise.

After many, many clothes had been picked out—the plan was for the Geek to continue to dress fashionably for the rest of the show—the Geeks were taken to a nearby beauty salon. Their hair was washed, cut, dyed, rinsed and restyled. Their nails were done, and they were subjected to waxing.

"Do I really have to do this?" Kurt asked as he prepared to lie down on the waxing table.

"Yes, you really have to do this," Lorna replied with a knowing grin. "Trust me, it'll be worth it."

Kurt didn't look convinced. He was even less convinced when the hot wax was applied to his hairy chest. He tried to tell himself it couldn't be that bad. After all, he'd performed in the circus for years, and had been hurt plenty of times.

The paper was placed on the wax.

"Yeeeow!"

Piotr, Pyro, Rogue, X-23 and Toad all looked anxiously towards the waxing room from their various places in the salon.

"That doesn't sound good," Toad said as the hair dresser worked on his hair.

"I am not looking forward to it either," Piotr replied from the chair next to Toad's.

Rogue gave a smug little laugh. "There's no point to trying to wax me. Waxing is supposed to take the hair out by the roots, but I'm invulnerable, so waxing me will only take off the surface hair."

"Your hair isn't invulnerable too?" Toad asked.

Rogue gestured to her hair dresser, who was demonstrating as they spoke by trimming Rogue's long locks. An inch of hair dropped to the floor.

"That answer your question?" she said. "Hair's just dead cells anyway."

"Point taken," Toad said. "Hey, imagine if hair was alive!"

"I think that if hair was alive, it would hurt when we cut it," Piotr said. "I think I am glad it is not."

Eventually, all the Geeks went into the waxing room, although Rogue was treated to a shaving of her legs, rather than an actual wax. Of all the Geeks, X-23 was the only one who bore the wax without so much as a bat of the eye. She had never waxed before and when queried later, merely shrugged and said she'd felt worse. If anything, she seemed fascinated by the process.

* * *

><p>The Beauties were alerted to the Geeks imminent return, and they gathered in the study. Each of them sat down on a chair with a space next to them for their respective Geeks.<p>

"Okay Beauties," Spyke said, standing by the doorway of the room. "Are you ready to see your Geeks' new looks?"

"Yeah!" they replied, almost in unison as they clapped.

"First up... Piotr!"

Piotr stood outside of the curtain that had been draped across the doorway to the study. Upon hearing his name, he took a deep breath, parted the curtains with his large hands and stepped through. His entrance was then celebrated by cheering and screaming.

"Ohmigod! You look so good!"

He couldn't help but grin back as Kitty leapt up from her seat to give him a hug. His hair had been cut and dyed to make it "blacker" if that was possible. He wore a casual jacket with a tight shirt underneath and a pair of blue jeans.

"You look awesome," Kitty said, beaming up at him with her arms wrapped as far around him as they could go. "Come sit by me, you sexy thing you."

Lance frowned as Kitty pulled Piotr back to their seats, but said nothing.

Spyke waited until everyone settled down congratulating Piotr, and then announced: "Laura."

X-23 stepped through the curtain. She wore a cute, purple cocktail dress which showed off her cleavage, and a pair of matching stiletto heels. Her long black hair had only been cut a little—enough to get rid of split ends—and she now had a short fringe over her forehead. She had also gotten some light make up done. Gambit gave her a wolf-whistle.

"You look hot, chère," he said, grinning at her.

X-23 blinked, chewed her bottom lip for a moment and then said: "Thank you."

He chuckled as he stood and made his way over to her.

"I love your eyelashes," Amara said. "I'm just so jealous right now."

"You look gorgeous, girl," Amanda added.

Gambit slipped his arm around her waist. "How does it feel?"

X-23 looked around the room, a little overwhelmed.

"It feels...different," she said, and looked down at her feet. "I am not used to wearing heels this high."

After the congratulating and praising was done, X-23 sat down by Gambit. The curtain was settled back into place, and Spyke announced the next Geek:

"Pyro."

Pyro strode through the curtains. He had been transformed from a shaggy-haired, dirty blond to a short-haired golden blond. He was wearing a light brown jacket and dress pants. As the jacket was open, they could see the light yellow dress shirt underneath which had the first few buttons undone. He stretched out his arms, then pointed first at Amara and then at Wanda with his index fingers while his thumbs were pointing up and his other fingers curled up into his palms.

"Hey good looking," Wanda said.

"Hey," Pyro said, giving her a proud grin.

"Wow," Amara said, standing up to walk around him for a better look. "You look hotter than ever."

Pyro licked his finger and then made a sizzling noise as he touched it to the revealed part of his freshly waxed chest. "Is that even possible?"

"And the Geek is back," Amara teased him.

Spyke straightened up the curtain and waited for his cue once Pyro and Amara had sat down. "Kurt."

Amanda bit her lip, almost expecting Kurt to teleport into the room. He didn't; instead he strode through the curtain with his hands planted on the top of his mustard-yellow jeans like he was a model. He strutted to the front of the group, leaned to one side, then leaned to the other while those watching on clapped and cheered. Then he slowly turned around and once his back was to the audience he slowly pulled off his light, casual jacket, revealing a snug white shirt underneath that clung to his athletic torso like a second skin. The display won him much applause and wolf-whistling.

Kurt turned the rest of the way to face everyone one more, and slung his jacket over his shoulder with ease. Amanda laughed and jumped up to hug him.

"You look amazing," she told him.

"Danke," Kurt replied with a grin and a nod.

"So is it true?" asked Kitty. "Are you now more Elf and less Fuzzy?"

"Could be," Kurt said teasingly.

"Show us! Show us!"

When Kurt didn't immediately move to lift his shirt, Amanda took the liberty of lifting the front up for him. She ran a hand over his stomach just to 'confirm' and Kurt swallowed, just a little uncomfortable with this kind of unexpected attention.

"Oh yeah," Amanda said, grinning at Kurt. "He's nice and smooth."

"Yay!" Kitty cheered. "Now we have to change his nickname to just Elf."

"Hey Kurt," Gambit said, leaning back in his chair with a smirk on his face. "I have a stick you can use to fend them off with if you want."

Kurt laughed. Soon he was sitting down in the spare seat between Amanda and Kitty. Once again, Spyke waited until everyone had settled and then said: "Rogue."

Rogue took a deep breath, and reluctantly walked through the curtain. Regardless of whether people should judge by appearances or not, people still did; this whole makeover nonsense was proof of that. She had gone to a great deal of trouble to dress in a way that would repel people and encouraged them to leave her alone (and she liked purple and black). That barrier she had created for herself was now gone.

She wore a short-sleeved, emerald green mini dress which brought out the colour of her eyes and fit snugly around her body, showing off every curve. The bowl neckline revealed more skin than she was happy with, but she wore a white silk scarf to off-set it. Her opera length gloves matched the green of her dress, as did the high-heeled knee-high boots. Underneath the dress and boots she wore light tan leggings.

As if payment for not getting a wax, Rogue had been the only Geek to get a spray tan done. Her previously pasty-white skin now had a golden glow. Her face had been completely stripped of make up, and replaced with a little mascara and natural-coloured lipstick. Her streak of white hair framed her face instead of hiding it.

"Wow," Kitty said. "Girl, you look amazing."

Rogue shrugged and crossed her arms awkwardly.

"Thanks," she said.

Lance pushed off his seat and joined Rogue in front of everyone, just because all the other Beauties had with their Geeks. She did actually clean up better than he thought she would.

"You look good, Rogue," he said.

Rogue barely had a chance to acknowledge him when Gambit called out: "See chère? I always knew you were the hottest femme in the house."

Rogue rolled her eyes but couldn't quite stop the smile from quirking at her lips. Gambit noticed, of course, and grinned at her, deliberately running his eyes over her in such a way that even those who had their backs to him couldn't help but notice he was checking over every last curve on Rogue's body.

"Be careful, Swamp Rat," she said dangerously, cocking one hip to the side. "Men who've looked at me like that in the past have learned to regret it."

"The only thing I regret right now is that I don't know nearly enough about you," Gambit replied.

"Good, let's keep it that way, shall we?"

"Are you insane?" Wanda asked, looking at Rogue like she was, well, insane. "He's totally flirting with you and you're turning him down?"

"Am I insane?" Rogue repeated, regarding Wanda incredulously. "I can't touch anyone without hurting them! He's the one who's insane."

"What can I say?" Gambit said, grinning broadly as he leaned back in his chair. "I'm crazy for you."

"Ugh," Rogue said and looked at Lance who was still standing awkwardly next to her. "Lance? You are the greatest team mate ever."

"Uhh, thanks," Lance replied awkwardly.

"Aww," Kitty said, clasping her hands together with a giggle.

"And finally," Spyke said after Rogue reluctantly sat down in the chair between Lance and Gambit. "Toad."

Wanda covered her eyes with her hands. She wasn't sure she wanted to look. She simply couldn't imagine Toad cleaning up to look at all presentable. She heard the curtains open and then the cries of astonishment from her friends. She dared to open her fingers just enough to let one eye peek through. Wanda gasped and her hands fell from her face as she stared at the new and improved Toad standing hopefully before her.

Toad's shaggy hair had been cut quite short and highlights had been put through it. Someone must have had a word with him about standing up straight for he wasn't as hunched over as he usually was. The rags he called clothes were gone, instead Toad was wearing a suit and tie.

"No way," Wanda said shaking her head. "You... I... You...You look like a completely different person. Wow. I almost didn't recognise you."

Toad rubbed the back of his neck, grinning, but also looking a little uncertain. "Is that a good thing?"

"It's a great thing!" Wanda insisted, standing up and walking over to him. "You look so handsome."

Toad beamed. "Thanks, babycakes!"

"Please don't call me that."

The others added their shock and approval of Toad's dashing new looks, and then he sat down in the last empty chair next to Wanda. Spyke got everyone's attention.

"Okay ladies, gentlemen," he said. "You should all return to your rooms. The Geeks have some additional instructions they need to follow before dinner tonight."

The meeting was broken up not long after that, and everyone trotted up the stairs to their rooms, as instructed. On each of the Geek's beds was an envelope, which they each in turn opened and read with varying levels of dread and excitement.

"What does it say?" Wanda asked Toad when he stood there gaping at the note for a little too long in her opinion."

Toad took a deep breath. "I have to ask one of the Beauties—not my partner—out to dinner tonight."

"Oh," Wanda replied, not really sure what she thought about that.

"It also says where in the house I'll be taking my, uhh, date," Toad said and dropped his hand. "It's a shame I can't ask you."

"Oh well," Wanda said with a slight shrug. "It's probably because asking your team mate would be too easy."

"Yeah, probably," Toad said, still disappointed. Wanda was the Beauty he liked the most.

Abruptly Wanda started laughing. Toad frowned and looked at her curiously. "What?"

"I just realised," she said, giggling. "Rogue will have to ask Remy. She's just going to loooove that."

* * *

><p>Kurt was the first Geek to take the plunge. He set aside his nervousness and located Kitty in the rec room with Lance, Piotr, Gambit and Amanda.<p>

"Uhh, Kitty," he said. "Might I have a word with you?"

Kitty looked up at him with a smile, suspecting what was coming as Piotr had told her what he had been instructed to do.

"Sure," she said, getting up off the lounge.

"Great," Kurt said, and he tried to pretend not to notice all the grins sent in his direction as they walked out of the room.

"So," Kitty said when they had a little more privacy. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well," Kurt said nervously, taking her hands into his. "I was wondering, would you go out to dinner with me tonight?"

Kitty grinned at him. "I'd love to."

x-x-x

Shortly after Kitty and Kurt's return to the rest of the group, X-23 entered the room. Her eyes fell on Lance, who straightened up in his seat when he noticed her, and she strode purposefully over to him.

"Lance," X-23 said, looking him directly in the eye and seemingly oblivious to everyone else in the room. "Would you join me for dinner tonight?"

Lance cleared his throat. "Sure."

"Good. I shall meet you at your door at nineteen hundred hours," X-23 said with a brief nod.

She turned on her heel and departed just as quickly as she arrived. Amanda giggled. Lance just looked confused.

"What's nineteen hundred hours?" he asked, looking at everyone.

"Military time," Gambit explained with a sly grin. "Means seven o'clock."

"Oh," Lance said, frowned, and then asked: "Then why didn't she say seven o'clock?"

"She thought she did."

x-x-x

Pyro cleared his throat nervously as Wanda, wearing her bikini with a towel slung over her shoulder, headed down the hall in his direction towards the stairs. He hadn't counted on Wanda planning on going swimming when he approached her.

"Hey Wanda," he said, making a concerted effort to sound casual as he played with the lighter in his hands. "I was wondering, ahh...would...would you do me the honour of joining me for dinner tonight?"

Wanda smiled as she drew closer. "Absolutely."

x-x-x

Piotr spotted Toad out of the corner of his eye in the hallway. Fortunately, Toad was only pacing, although he did keep looking into the lounge as if he was trying to build up the courage to walk in. Piotr felt his pain, but it also served to kick him into gear; after all, the only unavailable Beauty in the room was Amanda, and he had intended on asking her.

"Amanda," he said abruptly, his voice coming out a lot more firmly than he expected and silencing the group mid-conversation. "Would you go out to dinner with me tonight? Please?"

Amanda smiled.

"I'd love to," she said as Toad finally worked up the courage to enter the room.

"Great," Piotr replied, feeling very relieved.

"So hey yo," Toad said to the group, nervously hopping from foot to foot.

"Hi Toad," Gambit replied, a sly smile filling his face.

"So, ahh," Toad said, scratched his head and then looked at Kitty. "Hey Kitty, umm, could I... maybe... talking to you in private for a moment."

Kitty kept her face composed as she stood.

"Sure," she replied sincerely.

"Great, great," Toad said.

Kitty followed Toad out of the room, ignoring the reactions of the others as she did so. Once they were in the hallway, Toad did a bit more hopping from foot to foot and finally blurted out: "Would you go out to dinner with me tonight?"

"Aww, I'm sorry, honey," Kitty replied sympathetically. "I'm afraid that Kurt already asked me."

Toad's face fell. "Oh."

"And Pete just asked Amanda."

"Oh."

Kitty patted his shoulder. "I believe Amara's free."

Toad sighed. "I really wanted to ask Wanda, but..."

"Yeah, can't ask your partner," Kitty said. "I think Amara's in the pool."

"Okay, thanks anyway."

Kitty allowed herself a smile as Toad walked off, then turned and re-entered the lounge room. She took in all the silly grins on everyone's faces, rolled her eyes and sat back down.

"Don't be like that," she said. "I felt bad saying no to him."

"This is why I asked you straight away," Kurt said with a nod. "I knew you were popular."

"Aww," Kitty replied, batting her eyes at him. "I feel so loved."

"Speaking of feeling loved," Gambit said, lifting his legs up onto the coffee table, "I wonder when I can expect a visit from Rogue?"

x-x-x

Rogue was alone in her room, practicing her guitar. She hadn't practiced all day and it was clearly more important than asking Gambit out to dinner.

x-x-x

Toad found Amara relaxing on a lounge chair by the pool. He cleared his throat and walked over to her.

"Hey Amara," he said tentatively.

Amara opened one eye and looked at Toad. Knowing what the Geek's instructions were, it didn't take her long to figure out why Toad was talking to her.

"Hi," she replied shortly.

"So, uhh, I was wondering," Toad said, hopping from foot to foot. "Would go got out to dinner with me tonight?"

Amara stifled a sigh and forced a smile.

"Of course I will," she said.

x-x-x

Kitty, Piotr, Kurt, Amanda and Lance decided to join Wanda and Amara at the pool, along with X-23 and Pyro. Gambit chose to stay in the lounge room, thinking that perhaps the only reason why Rogue hadn't approached him was because she didn't want to ask him out in front of others.

So he waited.

And waited.

And contemplated going looking for her, but ultimately decided against it as the whole point of the task was for the Geeks to approach the Beauties.

Just as he was reconsidering his plan to seek Rogue out, she walked into the lounge room. He smiled when he saw her, but she didn't give him more than a glance and sat down on a lounge at a right-angle to his.

"Bonjour ma chère," Gambit said, leaning on the arm of the lounge and gazing at her.

"Hi," she replied, not looking at him.

Silence followed.

"There a reason why you're not in the pool with everyone else?" Rogue asked.

"I just didn't feel like swimming," he replied nonchalantly.

"Sure you didn't."

"Besides," Gambit went on, searching his face and attempting to get her to look at him, "if I went swimming too, why you'd be all alone in this great big house."

"Ahh to be alone," Rogue said wistfully. "To truly be alone. If only that were possible."

There was something loaded in that comment which made Gambit rather curious. Slowly Rogue turned her head to look at him, and she finally met his eyes. A slight, smug smile played on her lips.

"I will never be alone," she told him. "Even when I'm the only one in the room, I'm not alone. You see, that's the one part of my mutation I haven't told you guys about yet: When I absorb someone, I don't hurt them and borrow their powers. I copy their minds too. Everyone I've ever absorbed is up here," and Rogue tapped her head. "Everyone except Carol, because I took her mind in its entirety and when her body woke up from her coma, we needed a class four telepath to transfer her mind back to her body."

Rogue leaned in towards him—not too close—and asked sweetly: "So, Remy, would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Gambit replied, appearing to be completely unfazed by Rogue's little speech. "I'd love to go out with you."

* * *

><p>At nineteen hundred hours, X-23 knocked on Lance and Rogue's bedroom door. A moment later, the door opened and Lance stood before her.<p>

"Hi," he said.

"Are you ready to depart?" X-23 asked.

"Uhh, yes," Lance said, uncomfortably adjusting his jacket.

"Good. We have been assigned the lounge room for our dinner," X-23 went on. "Please follow me."

Lance look at X-23 as she turned her back, then glanced at Rogue, who gave him a grin. Lance let out a long slow breath and followed X-23 into the hall and down the stairs.

At the same time, Pyro was at Wanda's door, leaning on the wall and trying to be suave and sophisticated.

"And may I say you look gorgeous this evening," Pyro told Wanda as she exited her bedroom.

"Why, thank you," Wanda replied, offering him a smile. "You look very handsome yourself."

Kurt picked up Kitty. Toad escorted Amara down the stairs. Piotr walked silently with Amanda to their destination.

Rogue rapped on Gambit's door and entered at his "come in" only to find her date standing in front of the full-length mirror. He glanced at her through his reflection.

"Roguey, so glad you're here," he said, and lifted up the lower part of the jacket of his dinner suit. "Does my butt look big in this?"

Rogue shut her eyes and kicked the door closed with her foot.

"How long have you been wanting to say that for?" she asked, opening her eyes again and walking over to the door leading to the balcony.

"Years," Gambit replied, grinning at her mischievously. "Never really had a good opportunity until now."

"Mmmhmm," was Rogue murmured reply as she stepped onto the balcony.

Gambit raised his eyebrows, then grabbed his gloves. He wanted the option to touch her face tonight, should the opportunity arise. As he pulled his gloves on, he joined her on the balcony.

"I could be wrong, chère," he said. "But shouldn't we be using that door?"

He pointed back into the room towards the door leading to the hallway as he finished pulling on his second glove. Rogue smiled at him and such the sliding door.

"I decided to take a short cut."

Before Gambit could question that, Rogue picked him up bridal style and starting flying up to the roof. Gambit's arms automatically wrapped about her neck and shoulders to stabilise himself in her arms. This was certainly different. He looked around, then looked at Rogue.

"My hero," he said, batting his eyelids.

Rogue smirked and landed gently on the roof. There was a table waiting for them with a couple of plates covered by silver lids. There was also a stereo and after setting Gambit down, Rogue turned it on. Jazz music began to play softly.

"Well now," Gambit said looking around. "Ain't this nice?" He paused and looked at Rogue slyly: "And romantic?"

"Oh yes, I'm just swooning over here," Rogue replied blandly.

She started to walk over to the table and chairs, but Gambit zipped over and beat her there. He held out one of the chairs for her. Rogue looked at the chair, then at Gambit and pursed her lips.

"Thank you," she said with clipped politeness.

x-x-x

Kitty watched and listened politely while Kurt said Grace.

"Amen," he said finally, and lifted his head.

Kitty nodded. "So, ahh, you do that at every meal?"

"Yes."

"You realise most people don't do that," Kitty said slowly.

Kurt gave a shrug. "I know, but my faith is more important to me than what other people think of me."

x-x-x

Amanda's eyes started to glazed over while Piotr talked on and on about his favourite painters and techniques. When she asked him about his painting, she hadn't expected to get an art lecture.

x-x-x

"So," Wanda said as she gathered her next mouthful of food, "have you ever sold movie rights for any of your books?"

"Sadly, no," Pyro replied. "Which is a shame, 'cause I would love to see Sinjin Four on the big screen."

"What about one, two, and three?"

"Huh? Oh, 'Sinjin Four' is the name of the planet," Pyro said with a nod. "Sinjin One, Two and Three are uninhabitable."

"Oh," Wanda said, chewed thoughtfully, and then asked: "So... why don't they just call it 'Sinjin'?"

"Because 'Sinjin' is the name of the system," Pyro replied. "It had six planets; Five and Six are uninhabitable too."

"I see. What's it about? The book, I mean."

"Oh, well, it's about..."

x-x-x

Amara and Toad's date was outdoors, and it was taking all of Toad's self restraint not to eat some of those pesky mosquitoes that were hanging around. After the meal, Toad conjured up a very loud burp. Amara blanched.

"Compliments to the chef, am I right?" Toad said proudly.

x-x-x

There was silence at X-23 and Lance's table. Lance attempted to engage X-23 in conversation on multiple occasions but she was painfully prone to "yes" and "no" answers. Eventually he just gave up. The only conversation they'd had of any substance had been the one about fitness routines. It was a relief when the dinner came to an end.

"I am supposed to ask you if you would go on a second date," X-23 said as they prepared to end their evening.

"Uhh," Lance said awkwardly, pushing his chair in as an excuse not to look at her. "Well... uhh... This was a pretty, umm, awkward first date. Lots of long silences."

X-23 said nothing, she just looked at him. Lance sighed, feeling like a jerk already for what he was about to say:

"Honestly? Probably not," he said. "Sorry."

x-x-x

Although initially their dinner had been a little tense, Gambit and Rogue did manage to have a relaxing, extensive conversation about the many things it turned out they had in common. They both loved motorcycles, travelled, and had similar tastes in music and movies. Gambit asked her about her work, and managed to skirt around the query of what he did by saying nothing more than 'family business' and changing the subject.

The conversation was so good and comfortable that they were still talking well after their plates had been scraped clean. Their location also granted them the most wonderful, panoramic view of the sunset.

"Well, thank you for joining me for dinner," Rogue said as she stood up. "I have to admit, this evening went a lot better than I was expecting it to."

Gambit grinned and stood as well.

"I'm glad to hear that," he said, taking her hand. "But who says the night is over?"

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "What? You were planning on taking me back to your pad?"

He chuckled lightly and drew her away from the table. "We have music, a beautiful view, nowhere we need to be at any particular time. Come dance with me."

"I don't dance," Rogue said, even as Gambit wrapped his other hand around her waist.

"Is that because you can't, or because you don't want to?" Gambit asked, swaying gently with her on the spot.

Rogue sighed, one hand in Gambit's, and the other hanging limply by her side.

"Because I can't," she said. "And because most guys have this thing called a sense of self-preservation and don't want to dance with me."

"Oh don't you worry, ma chère," Gambit said as he took hold of her limp hand and slung it over his shoulder before sliding his hand back onto her waist again, "I have one of those. It regularly gets into fights with my spirit of adventure."

"Yeah?" Rogue inquired dryly. "And how do those fights using end up?"

"Spirit of Adventure threatens to beat the crap out of Sense of Self Preservation, and Sense of Self Preservation wisely backs off."

Rogue laughed despite herself. Gambit grinned at her.

"I just... I really need you to be careful, okay?" she said. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm not afraid," he insisted, holding her gaze.

Rogue glared at him and pulled herself out of his grip. "Don't you dare. Don't you dare start."

"Chère?" he questioned, puzzled as Rogue shook her finger at him.

"You don't think I've heard that before?" she demanded. "You don't think I've put up with self-centred dirtbags like you, who are so arrogant that they think nothing can hurt them? That they're invincible and immune to the world? News flash, Swamp Rat, you're not. My first boyfriend was just like you, insisting he wasn't afraid, right up until the day he pushed things too far and I did absorb him. He couldn't leave me fast enough."

Gambit opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get any further than that before Rogue continued with her tirade:

"And my second boyfriend? The day I absorbed that little prick I discovered that he considered me his 'novelty girlfriend' and had cheated on me with three other women over the course of our six month relationship! And that's not even counting all the guys with the same damn attitude that I didn't date. You're all the same. One absorption and you'll be running for the hills, just like everyone else."

"Oh?" Gambit asked softly, then pulled off one of his gloves and held his bare hand out to her. "Then let's get it over with, shall we?"

Rogue backed off even further. "No."

"Afraid to call my bluff, chère?" he challenged her. "Afraid I still might find you attractive afterwards?"

"Even if I wanted to, I still wouldn't," Rogue said defiantly, head up high. "If I absorb anyone deliberately while I'm here, I get disqualified. Because I have mind-reading capabilities, absorbing anyone—particularly a Beauty—could give me an unfair advantage."

"Hmm," Gambit considered as he accepted that and pulled his glove back on. "Then you're just going to have to put up with me flirting with you. You're a passionate woman, Roguey. I'm attracted to passionate women. I'm also attracted to dangerous women, so it's of little surprise to me that I find you so alluring. But...if it helps relieve your mind any if I say so, I have little interest in ending up in a coma. And I can't say I really want my mind read either. But you did say that most of the time it's just a dizzy spell, and well, look at you, chère," he said, gesturing to her clothing as he closed the distance between them. "You're all covered up! Maybe touching your skin is dangerous, but right now the risk factor is so low it would be silly of me to be afraid."

Rogue sighed irritably as Gambit took hold of her hands.

"Come dance with me, chère," he said softly. "maybe I can't take you, ahem, 'back to my pad' and make love to you all night long, but that doesn't mean I can't hold you in my arms and—"

"I swear, Remy," Rogue said, glowering at him, "if you declare your undying love for me, I will deck you."

Gambit chuckled and held one of her hand while placing the other on his shoulder.

"Nah," he said, slipping his arm around her waist once more. "The last time I did that, she annulled the marriage half an hour later."

Rogue gaped up at him as he pulled her all so gently close to him. "You were married?"

"For half an hour," he reiterated with a grin.

"What happened?"

"It's a long story," Gambit replied as he began to sway with her, lulling her into a slow dance rhythm. "And not one I wish to share when there are cameras around. Let's just say, her brother had a problem with me."

"Didn't approve of your playboy lifestyle?" Rogue asked wickedly.

"Actually he didn't like my family in general, and me in particular because I had the audacity to be involved with his beloved sister," he said. "And I didn't really have much of a playboy lifestyle at the time: I was only eighteen."

"Wow," Rogue said softly, looking more over his shoulder than at him, "that's really young."

Gambit didn't reply. He didn't really have anything to say, and the truth was he wanted them to stop talking so he could just enjoy holding her. He allowed himself a smile when she rested her head on his shoulder.

"What was she like?" Rogue asked after awhile.

Gambit was silent for a moment, and then said: "Passionate and dangerous."

Rogue snorted contemptuously.

"And she never cared who she hurt, or how badly she hurt them," he went on. "In fact, I think she enjoyed it."

"You loved her a lot, didn't you?" Rogue asked, hearing more the tone of his voice than what he said.

Gambit leaned his head forward and rested his cheek against her head over her hair. "I did, but I think it's for the best that we're no longer together. We had known each other since childhood, but we were starting to grow apart, and I don't think our marriage would have lasted either way. But enough about this. Shouldn't talk about exes on the first date. Or any date really. They're mood killers."

And having nothing else to say, they both drifted off into silence. After a time, Rogue became aware that they were actually moving their feet in more than just a simple swaying motion and also realised that she hadn't even trod on his foot or anything. She also found, much to her dismay, that she was really enjoying being in his arms.

Still, their evening did finally come to an end, and Gambit insisted in his own, smooth, joking way that she should walk him to his door. They went the conventional way this time: through the door and down the stairs.

"Oh, before I forget," Rogue said as they walked down the hall towards their bedrooms, which were next to each other. "This is probably a stupid question, but I'm supposed to ask you if you'd be interested in a second date."

"Absolutely," Gambit said, stopping outside his door. "And I'm going to hold you to it."

"Remy—" Rogue began.

"Wanna come in for some 'coffee'?" he asked suggestively, opening the door.

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Good night, Swamp Rat."

He grinned after her as she turned and walked towards her own bedroom. "Good night, River Rat."

Gambit was certain he heard a chuckle before she disappeared from sight.


	6. Episode 5: Part 2

**Episode 5: Part 2**

The following morning, the Beauties were taken on a trip right after breakfast. They had each found instructions for them on their beds after their respective dates telling them not to shave, wash or do their hair in anything but a simple ponytail, put on make up, or any of their other usual morning primping routines. They were then taken to the back room of a local club—normally closed at this hour, but open exclusively for the purpose of this challenge—where there were a number of racks of clothing.

"Okay Beauties," Spyke said when he got the cue. "Welcome to your challenge. I supposed you're probably all wondering what it is you're doing."

"Yeah."

"Yes."

"Definitely."

"Well," Spyke said, and gestured to the room leading to the main floor of the club. "Soon, you'll be going in there to mingle with all the people on the other side. Ladies, your challenge will be to get as many men to buy drinks for you as possible. Gentlemen, your challenge will be to buy a drink for as many women as possible—and they have to accept your offer of a drink _before_ you buy it. A tab has been set up for each of you at the bar."

"Well, there goes that plan," Lance said, half joking.

Gambit snickered.

"Also, Remy and Lance, no you may not buy Kitty, Amara, Amanda or Wanda any drinks," Spyke said.

"Rats," Wanda said, only half joking. After all, that would be an easy four points each for the guys, and only two points each for the girls.

"Now I'm sure that you're probably wondering how this is actually a challenge," Spyke went on, and he gestured towards the racks of clothing. "Before you go in, you will have to pick an outfit from amongst these clothes to wear in the club."

It was only then that the Beauties really looked at the racks of clothing. They were close enough to tell that the styles and colours weren't exactly in fashion.

"That's right," Spyke said, and a grin started to appear on Gambit's face. "You'll have to rely on your personalities, not your looks, to win the challenge."

He soon gave them the go-ahead to start looking through the clothes. The girls in particular bemoaned the horrible choices before them as they looked through the racks of women's clothing. Lance was equally disgusted with his choices on the men's rack.

"Do you think I could go in shirtless? Do you think that's allowed?" he asked Gambit.

"Probably not," Gambit replied, eagerly looking through the racks for the dorkiest clothes he could find.

Now _this_ was what he called a challenge! While the other Beauties tried to make the best of the clothes before them, Gambit was more interested in looking as daggy as possible. The worse he looked, the harder it would be, and the harder it was the more fun it would be. Granted, he did have a slight advantage in that he did have a secondary mutation, hypnotic charm, which he hadn't told anyone about. But that wasn't the point.

Once the Beauties finished deciding on their clothes and changed, they were sent into the club. The patrons went silent as the six entered. Amara felt really insecure about the way that everyone stared at her. None of her clothes matched. None of anyone's clothes matched. A lot of them didn't fit either.

The crowd went back to their conversations and anything else they may have been doing, and the Beauties began to mingle. Wanda felt she had a slight advantage in that, although she was not allowed to use her hex bolts during the challenge, she could still sense the probability of getting certain results. This in mind, she targeted men who she sensed she would have a better chance of persuading them to buy her a drink.

Lance was reasonably confident he could do this challenge to begin with. He was a well built guy and what girl didn't like a free drink? However, after being turned down by the first three women he approached, he started to feel a lot less optimistic about his chances.

All of the clothing on the racks had been too big for Kitty, and there hadn't even been anything useful like a belt to wear. One sleeve of her shirt kept falling off her shoulder, which she eventually gave up on. The skirt was a little loose and she found herself adjusting it often and having moments of panic about it falling down when it wasn't. She tried her best, but she was so self-conscious about her appearance and potential humiliation that she didn't manage to score very many drinks.

Amara gave up completely. After enduring rejection after rejection and only getting one drink, she sat dejected at the bar for the remainder of the time.

There were times when Amanda really wanted to give up. The constant rejections hurt, and hurt even more every time she saw someone else having success. Still, seeing Amara looking miserable at the bar gave her the determination she needed not to join her. She started to get the hang of it in the latter half.

Gambit was having a great time. Like the others, he also got rejected, but he brushed them off as if it meant nothing, and moved on to the next woman. He was polite and debonair, and played up his French for effect, and of all the Beauties he was the only one who was disappointed when the time was up.

The crowd departed, and the Beauties gathered at the bar while they waited for the final tally. Spyke stood behind the bar and was given a paper with the scores. When he spoke, he would glance at it just long enough to get the score and then set it down again, as the director didn't want the paper appear in shot, even though the episode would likely focus on the Beauties rather than Spyke during this moment.

"In fifth place," Spyke said. "Amara with one drink."

Amara made a tiny little grunt in reply and didn't look at anyone. Gambit rubbed her back consolingly.

"Tied in fourth place, Kitty and Lance with three drinks."

Lance took Kitty's hand and squeezed it. She gave him a smile.

"In third place, Amanda, with five drinks."

Amanda nodded, relieved that, even if she hadn't won, at least she hadn't been last.

"In second place, Wanda, with six drinks."

Wanda felt mixed about that. The looks the other Beauties gave her were gratifying. Still, she had worked hard for those drinks, even if selective targeting had been involved, and it irked her that she only came second.

"And the winner, Remy," Spyke said, "with eight drinks."

Gambit grinned broadly. He couldn't help himself. He was thrilled with how everything came about. In fact, he wanted to do it again, only it had to be harder this time. Maybe he shouldn't shower for a few days, oh and they did amazing things with make up these days; maybe a few warts or something.

* * *

><p>The Geeks knew that something was wrong when their Beauties returned, and it wasn't just because they showed up wearing uncharacteristic clothing. They were quick to ask what on earth happened to them that morning.<p>

"We had to wear these stupid clothes," Amanda told them where they were gathered outside, "and then try to get guys to buy us drinks."

"Or talk girls into letting us buy them drinks," Gambit added slyly.

"He won," Wanda said, pointing at Gambit disgustedly. "I came second with six. Remy got eight. Eight!"

Gambit shrugged with a grin. "What can I say? I'm naturally charming."

"Oh shut up," Amara snapped it him. "It was awful. It was the worse experience of my life. It was just so embarrassing and humiliating. Getting rejected was so depressing."

"Well, for fear of earning your wrath," Toad said, "now you know how we feel."

"Shut up you little worm!" Amara snapped at him. "You have no idea how—"

"No idea? Really?" Toad interrupted hotly, glaring at her. "We get rejected all the time. _I_ get rejected all the time. It hurts when people reject you; it hurts more when you get rejected over and over and over. Imagine this morning, but on a daily basis. Maybe then you have some idea of what our lives are like."

"Wow," Rogue said, looking admiringly at Toad. "I don't believe I've ever heard you stick up for yourself before, sugah. Good on you."

Toad paused and then smiled. "Hey, I did, didn't I?"

"Oh lah de dah," Amara said sourly. "Aren't we all so proud of the little Toad. Screw you."

Everyone watched as Amara stormed off.

"Yeah, Amara kinda gave up after one drink and spent the rest of the time moping at the bar," Kitty said.

Pyro sighed. "I suppose I should go cheer her up. Hey, do you guys think it's too early for a bonfire? Fire always cheers me up."

"Umm, yeah, I think so," said Wanda.

"Darn," Pyro said as he stood up. "Well, I'll think of something."

"I still can't believe you got eight, man," Lance said to Gambit, shaking his head. "I thought I was doing okay just getting three."

Gambit shrugged. He sensed that telling everyone how much fun he had, and how he wanted to do it again, but harder this time, would not go down very well.

"Probably the French," he said. "There is nothing the ladies love more than hearing the most romantic language in the world whispered in their ear."

"Damn," Lance said. "I should have thought of the accent thing. Women love accents."

* * *

><p>Later that day, it was time for the Geek's challenge. The Geeks dressed up in their finest, and they and their Beauties were taken to their location: the same club, but on an upper floor. They gathered in a large room where six round tables had been set up.<p>

"Okay Geeks," said Spyke, addressing the group, "for your challenge, you're going to be speed dating."

Groans followed. Spyke grinned, and the Beauties either expressed their own amusement, or gave their Geeks their sympathies.

"You'll have four dates, which will go for five minutes each," Spyke went on. "You'll have to make the best impression, because they will be the ones deciding who will win. Additionally, Beauties, you will get to watch your Geek's progress."

Piotr wasn't the only Geek cringing at that. Not only did he have to impress his date (all four of them) but he had to do it with Kitty watching? Wasn't this challenge already hard enough?

Finally, the Geeks were directed to sit down at their tables, and the Beauties were taken to another room. There was a line of six chairs and six small televisions. They were given an ear piece each and sat down in front of their respective TVs. Each television was focused on the table of one of the Geeks so that the Beauties could see as well as hear.

It was a bit of a waiting game while the final details were set up, and then the dates arrived. Piotr's first date was a dark-haired woman with an eyepatch named Callisto. Kurt had the pleasure of the company of a redhead named Rachel, who reminded him a little of Jean.

Toad was introduced to Meggan, a blonde-haired woman with an accent that marked from somewhere in Europe, although where exactly Toad couldn't identify. During the course of their conversation, he found out that she travelled a lot, and figured she probably picked up bits of everything.

Pyro was completely shocked by his date, Martinque, a black-haired woman who showed up wearing a black corset which pushed up her breasts so much he thought they were going to fall out. X-23's first date was with a long blond-haired pretty boy named Longshot.

Rogue was apprehensive about this whole dating thing. She stopped dating years ago, despite Carol's many attempts to change her mind. Still, it wasn't like she was ever going to see any of these guys again, so what did it matter if she left out important details like not being able to touch people? All she had to do was impress them. These were the thoughts that were with her when a short-haired blond man sat down by her table.

"Hi," he said, sliding a blue clipboard onto the table. "I'm Gus."

"Rogue," she replied, giving him a pleasant smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Gus said.

"So, what do you do?" she asked.

"I test security systems," Gus said with a nod. "What about you?"

"Funnily enough, I test planes," Rogue replied, leaning forward on her arms on the table.

"Really? I hear that can be pretty dangerous."

"It can be, but it's nowhere near as dangerous as it was back in the 1950s," Rogue replied nonchalantly. "A test pilot used to get killed every week."

"Ouch."

Gambit sat next to Lance in the back room. There wasn't really all that much to listen to from X-23 and her date; most of it was spent in awkward silence. He was a little frustrated about the lack of warning about the challenge. Gambit knew that conversation wasn't exactly X-23's strong point and he would have appreciated a chance to work on date conversation with her. Then Gambit realised that was the whole point of the dates the night before, and he was doubly irritated that X-23's education in that matter had been left to Lance.

While listening to what wasn't happening at X-23's table, Gambit glanced over at Lance's screen and couldn't help but notice that Rogue and her date were deep in conversation. Worse, judging from their body language they were actually enjoying themselves. He knew he should be happy that Rogue seemed to be doing okay, but instead the sight bothered him. It _really_ bothered him.

Soon the five minutes were up, and the dates opened up their respective clipboards and filled out the brief questionnaire about their dates. On cue, they moved to their next table.

Gambit couldn't even bring himself to snicker at Gus' comment about testing security systems, and he completely tuned out X-23's ramble about the non-classified work she did in the military. He was too busy watching Rogue having a lovely conversation with Longshot.

He didn't know what was bothering him the most; that Rogue was having a good time with other men, or that he was jealous. Gambit was well aware of his jealous streak. It had given him nothing but trouble over the years, although he had figured out that the green-eyed monster only ever reared its ugly head when he was dating a woman he actually cared about. Knowing that, he was a little disturbed by the realisation that he cared about Rogue. He felt like he hardly knew her, yet somehow he had fallen hard enough for her that he was getting jealous. Jealous! About a couple of guys she would probably never see again?

Somehow, Gambit managed to drag his eyes away from Rogue and back on X-23. He was not going to let this get to him. He was absolutely not going to subject himself to unnecessary anxiety.

The five minutes were up, and the dates filled out the questionnaires for the second dates. Callisto, Meggan, Rachel and Martinique moved on to their third Geeks. Longshot and Gus left the room. Rogue's next date was another blond man, this one with a pair of white-feathered wings, who answered to Warren. X-23's third date was with a man whose longish hair was completely white named Joseph.

Lance nudged Gambit. "I think someone's biased against dark-haired men."

Gambit managed a short laugh.

Martinique leaned in towards Kurt. "So, who's the sexiest; me, or your Beauty?"

Amanda gasped in horror. "The bitch!"

Kurt cleared his throat. "I think that you are both beautiful and sexy in your own, unique ways and I wouldn't dream of insulting either of you by comparing you."

"Aww," Amanda said happily as Martinique congratulated Kurt on a good reply.

"Which Beauty is sexier?" Kitty asked next to her.

"Yup."

"She did that to Piotr too."

"And Pyro," Amara added from further down the line.

"I dread to think what Toad will say," Wanda said.

Wanda found out not long later, after the five minutes were up and the dates switched places again.

"Oh, my Beauty is," said Toad wistfully. "She's the sexiest woman in the world."

Martinique gave Toad a tight little smile. "Oh reeeeaally."

Wanda groaned. That was one date they wouldn't be scoring well on.

Finally, the last dates were over, and the final questionnaires were filled out. The six dates left the room, and the Beauties met their Geeks back in the main room. The teams lined up while the scores were tallied.

"Hey," Lance said when he caught up with Rogue. "You did great."

Rogue gave Lance a smile that Gambit saw and it made his stomach twist in knots.

"Thanks, sugah," she said. That was the first genuine praise he'd ever given her.

The other Beauties also praised and encouraged their Geeks, even Gambit, despite the fact he already knew X-23 had bombed. After what seemed like forever, Spyke approached the group. The cue was given, and after a brief introduction, he got to the part the teams really wanted to know about:

"And the two Geeks with the highest scores are..." Spyke said. "Kurt."

Kurt's face lit up as he stepped forward.

"And Rogue."

Rogue tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and she too, stepped forward.

"And the winner of the Geeks speed dating challenge is..." Spyke said. "Rogue."

Rogue stared in shock. She won? Seriously?

"Congratulations," Kurt said to Rogue as he turned to her and held out his hand.

Rogue chewed her bottom lip and shook Kurt's hand.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"Well, Rogue and Lance, Remy and Laura," said Spyke. "You've won today's challenges and the chance to nominate another team to go into the elimination room. The next elimination will be about everything you've learned so far.

Amara groaned internally. She and Pyro had burned her study materials, just because she hated studying them so much.

"I'll see you tomorrow night," Spyke said.

* * *

><p>Rogue was one of the first into the mini bus for the trip back to the mansion, and Gambit made sure he got to sit next to her. Rogue only gave him a passing glance and then looked steadfastly out the window. Everyone finished piling in, and the mini bus started off.<p>

"Congratulations, chère," Gambit said, eyeing her speculatively.

At first Rogue didn't reply. Finally—without looking away from the window—she said "thanks."

Gambit was a little surprised by her less than enthusiastic tone, and wasn't really sure what that meant, if anything. He slowly wrapped his arm over her shoulder and was heartened by the fact that she didn't tell him to move his arm. He also felt a little stupid about needing reassurance. They weren't even a couple! He had no real reason to be worried about losing Rogue to a bunch of guys she met on a speed date that she probably would never see again.

"Don't sound very pleased," he said.

"Why should I be? Really? It's just rubbing salt in the wound," Rogue replied. "I didn't tell them about my mutation."

"So?" Gambit asked as Kitty looked back at them from the seat in front.

"So none of them would have been interested in me if they knew they couldn't touch me."

"Umm," Kitty said, sitting up a little so she could see Rogue better, "Remy's interested, and he knows you can't touch you."

"It won't last. It never does," Rogue said, her gaze never moving from the window. "I think I'm just destined to be alone."

"Now all she needs is the cats," Lance said, who was sitting next to Kitty.

"Lance," Kitty scolded, and smacked his shoulder.

"Cats? No, bad idea," Rogue said, trying to ignore the fact that Gambit was stroking her shoulder. "I can't absorb them through their fur, but that still leaves noses, tongues, paws..."

"You can absorb animals?" Kitty asked, regarding her in surprise.

"They have life too," Rogue said.

"I think you underestimate just how attractive you are, Roguey," Gambit said.

"And I think you overestimate the attention span of yourself and every other male in the world when it comes to dating someone you can't touch," Rogue said, bitterness lacing her voice.

"Oh come on, there's more to love than just that," Kitty said. "And hey, at least this was you can find someone who loves you for you, and not for...y'know, other...stuff."

"What stuff, Kitty?" Gambit asked mischievously.

"Oh right, like I haven't heard that one before," Rogue said contemptuously. "It works well in theory, but not so much in the real world."

"You probably just haven't—"

"Met the right guy yet?" Rogue snapped. "Is that what you were going to say? Honestly? You think I haven't heard that one a zillion times too?"

"Actually, you have met the right guy," Gambit said, turning in his seat slightly so he could comfortably touch her leg with his other hand. "He's sitting right here, waiting for you to notice him."

"Aww," Kitty gushed as Rogue finally turned away from the window to look cynically at Gambit. "That's so sweet. Come on, Rogue, you can't say no to that."

"Sure I can. Watch me: No," Rogue said, and then went right back to looking out the window. "And get your hands off me, Swamp Rat. I'm in no mood for your lines."

"You have to be in the mood for them?" Gambit asked, removing his hands after a moment's hesitation. "Oh good. Let me know when you are in the mood, and I'll sing your praises all day."

"Is Rogue turning Remy down again?" Wanda called from the other side of the bus.

"Yes," Kitty replied disgustedly.

Gambit turned in his seat to grin at Wanda. "I'm a victim of unrequited love."

Rogue promptly smacked him upside the head. Kitty giggled.

"Okay, okay," Kitty said to Rogue while Gambit turned to the front again, a big silly grin on his face. "Out of all the guys you speed-dated today and Remy, who would you go out with?"

"You're not seriously asking that, are you?" Rogue asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure I am," Kitty replied, smiling broadly at her as Gambit reached over and started playing with Rogue's short hair. "Come on, pretend that the whole no-touching thing isn't an issue. Who would you go out with?"

Rogue sighed, well aware that their conversation had caught the attention of everyone on the mini bus.

"Well, Joseph seemed pretty nice," she said, and noticed Gambit pause while playing with her hair. "But I'm already committed to a second date with Remy, so I guess that's your answer."

Rogue went back to looking out the window. Gambit was delighted. It would have been very easy for Rogue to dismiss his holding her to a second date as a joke and forget about it, so the fact that she brought it up again meant—he hoped—that she hadn't rejected him completely.

"Second..." Kitty began with a frown, realised what she was referring to, and gave Gambit a shocked but amused look. "You're not seriously holding her to that?"

Gambit gave a half shrug, his other hand still busy playing with Rogue's hair.

"Wasn't that just a hypo- hypo—"

"Hypothetical question?" Gambit said. "Hypothetically, yes."

* * *

><p>That evening, Gambit headed up to his room, looking forward to having some time to himself to sort out his feelings about Rogue. In fact, he was so engrossed in his emotional turmoil, that he failed to hear that the shower was running, and opened up the ensuite door.<p>

It was only when he was fully inside that he registered that he had just walked in on X-23 in the shower. The clear glass made it impossible for him to miss X-23's body; wet and naked, with two claws sticking out of one hand, and a lot of blood pouring out the other.

All thoughts of Rogue went completely out of Gambit's head. He flung open the shower door.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed as he grabbed at her wrist, not caring at all how much he got wet.

The water splattered onto her wrist, washing off the blood and revealing a perfectly whole arm. The sight confused him at first; where had all the blood come from? Then she retracted the claws in her other hand, and Gambit saw the holes they had come out of close up.

"Healing factor," he murmured, more to himself than to X-23. "Dieu, that's why I've been seeing blood in here, but no injuries on you."

He lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. X-23 looked warily back at him.

"Why?" he demanded. "Why do you do this to yourself?"

He hadn't expected answer, and at first none came.

"I...understand pain," she said simply.

Gambit looked at her for a long moment while he went over that in his mind. Finally he let go of her.

"Finish up," he said. "I'll talk to you in the bedroom."

He closed the shower door, and it was only then that he noticed how wet he was. His pants weren't' too bad, but his shirt was soaked. He pulled it off as he headed to the door and draped it over an empty spot on the towel rack before he left the room.

X-23 had no intention of talking to Gambit. She finished in the shower, dried off and dressed, then headed out to the bedroom. Gambit was sitting patiently on her bed, waiting for her. She avoided his gaze. He was hardly the first person to discover that she cut herself, and she had no interest in enduring another lecture.

"What don't you understand?" he asked her as she set her dirty clothing aside.

"I do not want to talk about it," she said, wishing she hadn't said anything at all.

Gambit nodded. That was the response he had expected earlier.

"Okay then," he said. "Then let's talk about the challenge today instead."

X-23 didn't expect the change of subject. No one ever tried to change the subject before. They usually tried to make her talk to them, or force her to listen to them. "I do not wish to discuss that either."

"Well, I think we should," Gambit said, and patted the bed next to him. "Come, sit. After all, we're both here to learn new things about, well, life in general, I guess. Besides, we were kind of lacking in study materials this time, so I think that it would be a good idea to go over how the dating went."

X-23 sat down beside him on the bed, determined not to have this conversation.

"Now, tell me," said Gambit, making sure to look X-23 in the eye. "How do you think you went today with the speed dating? And don't tell me you don't want to talk about it. Everything you learn here, you can use later on—like with that boy back home you like. I'm here to help you."

She was silent for a long moment, then finally said: "I did not like it."

"Why didn't you like it?" Gambit asked, and when X-23 frowned, went on: "You don't like meeting new people? You couldn't think of anything to say? You...felt guilty because you're not sure if this other guy is really your boyfriend or not and you thought this might qualify as cheating?"

The look on X-23's face told Gambit she hadn't even considered the third one. Gambit quickly opted to reassure her that he wouldn't consider it cheating under the circumstances, and if her guy was at all reasonable he'd agree.

Gambit and X-23 ended up staying up half the night going over the speed dating. X-23 remained very close-mouthed throughout, but Gambit suspected that X-23 honestly didn't know how to put into words how she felt. He spent a lot of time going over every possibility he could think of and offering them to her like a multi-choice quiz, and then would go over the options.

"It's okay to be nervous, chère. Everyone gets nervous."

"You don't really need to give your full service record. If someone asks what you do, just say you used to be in the military for so many years, and then tell them what you do now. Or don't bother mentioning the military thing at all. If they want more detail, they'll ask."

"Next time, ask if they they like something you like. Like chess, or hot food, or...dogs."

Gambit was certain he would never get X-23 to open up completely, even if he had a hundred years of uninterrupted time with her, but he by the time they finally went to bed, he was pretty happy with how things went. He didn't bring up her cutting herself. It was clear to him that she had been cutting herself well before they ever met and thought it would be best if he accepted that she wasn't going to stop just on his say so.

* * *

><p>The following day, while the rest of their housemates were busy going over their studies from the previous challenges, Gambit, X-23, Rogue and Lance gathered on one of the balconies to discuss who they would nominate.<p>

"I think it's obvious that Kitty and Piotr are going," said Gambit, his eyes firmly fixed on Rogue who was resting against the railing.

"Do they have to?" asked Lance, pulling a face. "I mean, there's no rule that we _have_ to nominate them just because they haven't been in the elimination room yet."

"True," Gambit said, joining Rogue leaning on the railing. "But it's still the smart thing to do. Aside from the fact that Kitty and Piotr have demonstrated themselves to be a formidable team, everyone else has already been in the elimination room—aside from Laura and I, that is—and since we have all been following Kitty and Piotr's stance on this, then it would stand to reason that if we don't nominate them, some people are going to be annoyed with us."

"So the question is," Rogue said, "who do we want to send in with them? Kurt and Amanda, Wanda and Toad, or Amara and Pyro?"

"Kurt and Amanda," said Lance.

"That wouldn't be because Kurt likes Kitty, would it?" Rogue asked Lance with a slight smirk.

"Laura? What do you think?" Gambit asked his partner before Lance could reply.

"Kurt is a strong opponent," Laura said after a moment's pause. "And Kitty, Piotr, Kurt and Amanda appear to be allied. We should break up that alliance."

"I don't know," Rogue said, frowning and folding her arms across her chest. "If we send them in against each other, whoever comes out is going to be pretty pissed."

"What are they going to do?" asked Lance. "Send both of us into the elimination room?"

"That's not an unlikely possibility," Gambit said seriously. "If Laura and I don't win one of the next challenges, it's pretty much a given that we'll be in the elimination room. If the surviving team does win one and you don't, there's a pretty good chance we'll be facing you in there."

"Next round there will only be three teams to choose from," Laura said, and everyone looked at her. "If you do not win a challenge next round, there will be a 50-50 chance that you will end up in the elimination room."

"Good point," Rogue said.

"What about you, Rogue?" Gambit asked, slinging him arm across her shoulders. "Any preference?"

"I actually want to send Amara and Pyro in," Rogue said avoiding Gambit's gaze and trying not to get too happy about where his arm was. "Pyro's okay, but Amara gets on my nerves."

"She gets on Kitty's nerves too," Lance said, nodding.

"So, let's send Kitty and Piotr in against Amara and Pyro," Gambit said. "Let them sort out their rivalry where it counts; in the elimination room."

Rogue giggled and raised her fist. "To the death!"

"Exactly."

"What about Wanda and Toad?" Lance asked. "They're turning out to be pretty good."

"I think at this stage of the game, we're all turning out to be pretty good," Rogue said.

"I tell you what," Gambit said. "Laura and I will send Kitty and Piotr, and you two can send... whoever it is you want."

Rogue nodded. "Okay."

* * *

><p>Later that day, the housemates gathered on the stairs in the foyer. Rogue and Lance, Gambit and X-23 stood on either side of Spyke, facing their friends: Kitty, Piotr, Amanda and Kurt were on one stair, and just in front of them were Amara, Pyro, Wanda and Toad.<p>

"Good evening everyone," said Spyke, and then turned to each of the winning teams in turn. "Remy and Rogue, you won yesterday's challenges and the chance to send another team into the elimination room. Remy, Laura; which is the first team going to elimination, and why?"

"The team we chose has demonstrated that they're a strong team," Gambit said, looking at Kitty and Piotr. "And they're only the only team other than Laura and myself who hasn't been in the elimination room. We choose Kitty and Piotr."

"Kitty, Piotr," Spyke said as the couple nodded in acknowledgement. "Anything you'd like to say?"

"We were expecting it," said Kitty. "It's fine."

"Okay then," said Spyke. "Rogue, Lance; who are you sending to the elimination room?"

"Well," Rogue said, looking over the remaining teams. "It was a hard decision to make, and Lance and I disagreed about who should go in. We both had our own personal preferences, but...in the end, we decided to pick the team we would least like to face in elimination. This team has done really well. I really think that a lot of people here have probably been surprised by just how far they've come. The Beauty is really smart and the Geek, well, we recently found a...a prince underneath everything. Wanda and Toad."

Gambit frowned a little at that, as Toad's face lit up.

"Hey! I'm a prince," Toad said.

"You just had to make The Frog Prince joke, didn't you?" Wanda said, giving Rogue a look

"Wait, don't I need a kiss from a princess to complete the transformation?" Toad asked and looked up hopefully at Wanda.

"But you're the Toad Prince, not the Frog Prince," Rogue pointed out to him, and then offered Wanda a shrug. "It seemed like an apt comparison."

"Aww," Toad said.

"Toad, Wanda," Spyke said, a grin on his face at the conversation. "What do you think about going to the elimination room, and possibly going home tonight?"

"I hate the idea of going back into elimination," said Wanda, and her eyes fell on Rogue. "But you were one of the few people to give us a chance from day one, Rogue. I appreciate that. And I would much rather be sent to elimination because you respect us as a team, than just wanting to get rid of us."

"Yeah, same," said Toad.

"Okay, Kitty and Piotr, Wanda and Toad," said Spyke. "Go upstairs, pack your things, and say your good byes. I'll meet you again in the elimination room."

* * *

><p>Pyro gave Wanda a big hug. "You come back, okay?"<p>

Wanda smiled back at him. "I will."

x-x-x

Amanda gave Piotr a big hug.

"Good luck you guys," Kurt said.

Kitty kissed Kurt's cheek. "Thanks, Elf."

"I'm sure you'll do great," said Amanda.

x-x-x

Toad looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He waggled his eyebrows at his reflection.

"Prince Toad," he said. "Oh yeah."

* * *

><p>Kitty, Piotr, Wanda and Toad entered the elimination room and stood at their designated places. Spyke stood besides the TV with the Beauty and the Geek logo displayed on it, and four cards with numbers written on them.<p>

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the elimination room," said Spyke. "Kitty and Piotr, this is your first visit here."

Kitty nodded. "Yep."

"Wanda and Toad, this is your second visit," Spyke went on. "Do you feel like that gives you an edge?"

"I sure hope so," said Wanda.

Spyke gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "You will each have to answer questions from your study materials from the last four rounds. Beauties, you will go first. Geeks, please go to the viewing room."

Piotr and Toad hugged their partners and wished them luck. When they were settled in the viewing room across the hall, Spyke got his cue to continue.

"Ladies, you will be asked questions about politics, economics, mathematics, car maintenance and computers," Spyke said. "Kitty, your team was picked first; which number would you like?"

"Number one please, Spyke," said Kitty.

"Number one," Spyke repeated as he picked up the card marked '1' from the stand. "What does HDD stand for?"

Kitty was quiet for a moment as she thought back on her notes.

"A HDD is a Hard Disk Drive," she said.

"That is correct," Spyke said, and looked at Wanda. "Wanda, what number would you like?"

Wanda looked at the available cards, wishing her powers could tell her which cards held the question she would be most likely to be able to handle. Unfortunately, although her powers might be able to indicate men who were attracted black-haired beauties, it couldn't predict the future.

"Four, thank you, Spyke," Wanda said.

"Four," Spyke said and he picked up the card. "What is opportunity cost?"

Wanda took a deep breath, remembering the subject from the first week of studies.

"Opportunity cost is what you give up in order to do something else," Wanda said carefully. "Is that enough, or would you like an example?"

There was a pause—which would later be cut out—as Spyke received instructions through his ear piece. "Let's hear your example."

"Okay," Wanda said. "Let's say I'm in a shop and there's a pair of pants and a cute top I want to buy. But I only have a hundred dollars, and the pants and the top add up to...a hundred and ten dollars. That means that I can only buy one of those items. So if I buy the pants, the opportunity cost was the top. If I buy the top, the opportunity cost was the pants."

"That is correct," Spyke said with a grin.

"You know, you could always use a credit card," Kitty said.

"Yes, but the opportunity cost of using a credit card is 'staying out of debt'," Wanda replied, grinning at Kitty. "And I'm in quite enough debt as it is; I don't need any more."

Kitty giggled.

"Alright, Kitty," Spyke said, his serious, professional tone cutting into their amusement. "Which number would you like?"

"Number three, please," Kitty replied.

"Three," Spyke said, picked up the card, glanced at it, then picked up a small item that had been sitting just out of view of the women. "Identify this car part."

He held up the small car part. Kitty frowned slightly.

"Is that a spark plug?" she said.

"That is correct," Spyke said, and Kitty clapped happily at getting both her questions right. Spyke picked up the final card. "Wanda, how many bread rolls are in a baker's dozen?"

"Thirteen," Wanda replied.

"That is correct," Spyke said. "Geeks, please return to the elimination room."

There was a long silence as they waited for Piotr and Toad to head back to the elimination room. Once through the doors, they stood by their partners and congratulated them on a job well done.

"The score is now two for two," said Spyke. "Ladies, please go to the viewing room."

Wanda and Kitty wished Toad and Piotr good luck, and then walked across the hall to the viewing room. As soon as they were settled in their chairs in front of the TV, Spyke addressed Piotr and Toad:

"Gentlemen, you will be answering questions about music, relationships, massage and interior decorating," said Spyke. "Toad, which number would you like?"

"Number two, please," said Toad.

"Two," Spyke said, picking up the relevant card. "What is the body's largest organ with over five thousand sensory points?"

"The skin," Toad replied after a moment's thought.

"That is correct," said Spyke. "Piotr, which number would you like?"

"Number three please, Spyke," Piotr replied.

"Three," Spyke said as he picked up the card. "How many times does the average married couple have sex in a week?"

Piotr blushed. "Oh, umm, ahh...1.5."

"That is correct," Spyke replied.

In the viewing room, Kitty nudged Wanda. "How do you have .5 of sex?"

Wanda giggled. "One of them orgasms and the other one doesn't?"

"As good an explanation as anything else, I guess," Kitty replied, grinning, quieted down in time to hear Spyke ask Toad question number one:

"Your materials use what term to define a colour scheme using just one colour?"

"Monochromatic colour scheme," Toad replied.

"That is correct," Spyke said. He picked up the final card and address Piotr. "Piotr, the score is now four to three. If you get this question right, we go to a tie breaker. If you get this question wrong, you and Kitty will be eliminated from the competition and must go home immediately."

Piotr nodded and Kitty took Wanda's hand.

"This is a visual question," said Spyke.

With those words, the _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ logo on the screen changed to a photo of a young man with a guitar in hand and a pair of red feathered wings growing out of his back.

"Icarus is famous for his song 'She Lies With Angels'," said Spyke. "What is his real name?"

Kitty groaned. "We never went through this."

Wanda squeezed her hand sympathetically.

Piotr studied the photo hard, frowned, and finally said: "Jay Guthrie."

Kitty froze. "Ohmigod! Ohmigod!"

"That is correct," said Spyke. "Ladies, please returned to the elimination room."

Still holding hands, Kitty and Wanda returned to the elimination room. They let go, and stood by and congratulated their partners.

"Well now," said Spyke. "Congratulations, you've gotten all of your questions correct. The score is four for four, which means, we go to a tie breaker. Beauties, you will go first. Geeks, if you will step back please."

Obediently, Piotr and Toad took a couple of steps back. Kitty took a deep breath and Wanda rocked a little on her heels.

"Ladies, I will ask each of you a question," Spyke said. "If you both get them right, or if you both get them wrong, we will go to a second tie breaker." He picked up his tie breaker cards. "Kitty; who did President Robert Kelly run against in the previous election?"

Kitty was quiet for a moment as she tried to remember. "Graydon Creed."

"That is correct," Spyke said, and while Kitty breathed a sigh of relief, he picked up the next question: "Wanda; what is fifteen percent of fifty dollars?"

Wanda calculated it quickly in her head. "Seven dollars fifty."

"That is correct," said Spyke. "Ladies, please step back. Gentlemen, please step forward."

The Beauties and Geeks switched places, and when all was ready, Spyke asked Toad the first question.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, upstairs everyone was waiting impatiently to find out the results. It seemed to be taking longer this time around. Amanda and Kurt were hoping that Kitty and Piotr would come back. Gambit and X-23 felt that it was to their advantage if Wanda and Toad came back, but on a personal level, Gambit liked both teams. Pyro wanted Wanda to come back. Amara didn't like either Kitty or Wanda, but of the two, she wanted Wanda and Toad, if only because she knew Wanda and Pyro were friends. Lance desperately wanted Kitty and Piotr to come back. Rogue had mixed feelings and honestly didn't have a preference.<p>

Finally, after what felt like forever, the group began to hear noises downstairs, and finally the familiar clacking of high heels on the wooden floors. The door knob turned, the door opened, and a pair of dark sunglasses slipped through the crack.

The door pushed open the rest of the way, and Toad put the sunglasses on.

"Call me Toad," he said, folding his arms across his chest. "Prince Toad."

Wanda looked at Toad, and then at Rogue. "You've created a monster."

Rogue laughed and she and Pyro led the way to congratulate their return.

* * *

><p>Out the front of the mansion, Kitty and Piotr sat in front of the cameras.<p>

"I'm disappointed about going home," Kitty said. "But I definitely have learned a lot since I've been here. I think I might try to learn more about computers and stuff, actually. When I phase through electrical stuff I tend to break it. I always thought that it might be nice to actually be able to fix the stuff I break, but I never did 'cause I thought it would be too hard."

"And now you know you were smarter than you thought," Piotr said proudly.

"Yup," Kitty replied, well pleased. "And you've done great too, Petey. When we first met you could barely talk to me."

"I know," Piotr said, looking a little embarrassed. "I think I will still be nervous, but I think I could also approach a woman I was interested in now."

"Yay," Kitty said, giving Piotr a hug.


	7. Episode 6

**Episode 6**

The housemates were a little surprised when they were instructed to meet Spyke on the stairs rather than in the study. The five teams gathered on the stairs all the same and waited patiently. Soon, Spyke walked through the front door and looked up at them with a stern expression on his face.

"Go pack your things," he said. "You're leaving."

The Beauties and the Geeks paused with confusion. Where they in trouble or something? Before anyone had a chance to voice their query, however, Spyke went on.

"We're going to Vegas, baby," he said, a big grin on his face.

Wanda, Amara and Amanda squealed with excitement. Toad, Lance, Pyro and Kurt cheered. Rogue grinned at everyone. X-23 stood there as if there was nothing at all thrilling about this event and was waiting for her cue to go pack. Gambit also joined in on the celebrating, but inwardly he was already plotting: he had actually auditioned in Las Vegas, rather than New Orleans, where Gambit figured his housemates would presume he had auditioned. In some ways, Las Vegas was almost Gambit's second home, which would certainly make things interesting. Were they going to stay somewhere he might bump into someone he knew? And just what were the Las Vegas challenges going to be? How much of himself did he reveal?

He had come to no conclusions until after they had boarded the coach. The coach had a couple of tables. On one table were a couple of decks of cards (Gambit could feel his fingers twitching at the very sight), and on the other were five books which later turned out to be recipe books for cocktails and mixed drinks.

"I wonder what we're going to be doing in Vegas," Amanda said as the coach took off.

"Well, let's see, what's Vegas known for?" Lance said.

"Getting married under the effects of alcohol?" Rogue suggested and Lance pulled a face at her.

"Hmm," Gambit said, who was conveniently sitting beside Rogue. "Note to self, get Roguey very drunk..."

"Hey," Rogue objected and punched Gambit in the arm. "Not funny, Swamp Rat."

"I'm guessing that there's going to be gambling involved," Wanda said as Gambit rubbed his arm. "That's probably what the cards are for."

"Poker," said Kurt. "Or maybe Blackjack."

"Makes sense," said Amara, who was filling through one of the books. "These are probably for the Geeks."

"So, we should teach you Beauties how to play poker," said Kurt, opening up one of the packs of cards.

"Since when does a Theology student know how to play poker?" asked Lance. "Aren't you guys supposed to be against gambling?"

"The two are not mutually exclusive, mein freund," Kurt said. "Besides, I learned how to play while I was in the circus."

"I know how to play," X-23 said, an admission which took Gambit by surprise. "My father taught me."

"Great," Kurt said, and patted the table. "Why don't we have a demonstration game to show the Beauties how to play?"

"Very well," X-23 replied in agreement.

X-23 moved her he seat to one of the ones opposite from Kurt at the table. The Beauties sat around or near the table as Kurt shuffled the cards and started explaining the rules. Gambit joined in as well, pretending to be learning how to play, but in reality paying more attention to the other Beauties and making mental notes on who were quick to get the hang of it, who showed the more interest in bluffing, and other such detail. If they were right about gambling being involved, Gambit had no intention of showing his hand too soon.

Some hours later, they finally arrived at the hotel, and Gambit was pleased when he realised it was one he didn't normally stay at. Good, that meant there was little chance of him bumping into someone he knew. After being shown to their rooms, they were told they could have the rest of the day to themselves, as long as they all attended a certain night club at a particular time that evening. They went into their rooms long enough to dump their things and have a look around, then they headed downstairs.

"And this is where I say goodbye," Wanda said just outside of the entrance to the hotel's casino.

"What, why?" Toad asked, looking back at her with concern.

"My powers are probability based," Wanda said with a shrug. "I'm not allowed in casinos."

"Oh darn," Rogue said, snapping her fingers. "I forgot that. That means I can't go in either."

"Why not?" Wanda asked with a slight frown.

"I'm in the same party as someone with probability based powers," Rogue said. "And I borrow powers. As far as the casino's concerned, there's nothing stopping me from siphoning your powers and going in there to cheat with them. I'd have the same problem if Jean was still part of our group."

"'Cause she has telekinesis, right," Wanda said with a nod, and then grinned at Rogue. "So, I guess we're going shopping then."

Rogue laughed. "Guess so."

"We'll see you guys at the club later," Wanda said to the rest of their group.

For a moment, Gambit seriously considered going with them, but finally decided to go with the rest of the group. He would enjoy the casino a lot more than going shopping, no matter how badly he wanted Rogue's company. Besides, X-23 was his priority.

Gambit, X-23, Lance, Toad, Amara, Pyro, Amanda and Kurt headed into the casino. Once inside, they splintered off and tried their hands at some of the available games; Blackjack, roulette, the slot machines, and others. Much to Gambit's surprised, after doing a round of the main floor, X-23 decided that she and Gambit needed to go to the poker room.

"It will be good practice for you if we are correct about the Beauties challenge," she told him.

Gambit hesitated, but agreed. X-23 was his teammate, and she was trying to hold up her end of their partnership. He couldn't fault her for that, especially as she had no way of knowing just how good and experienced he really was with poker. Once in the poker room, he considered hamming it up and pretending to be a worse poker player than he really was, but decided it was pointless. The Beauty and the Geek crew would likely know he auditioned in Las Vegas, and anyone with half a brain would assume that a playboy in Vegas would have experience with gambling. None of the other cast members would be watching, so what did it matter if X-23 found out? Besides, when this episode went to air, anyone who watched and knew him would likely expose the fact that he was playing the card shark.

While Gambit and X-23 were living it up in the poker room, Kurt watched over Amanda's shoulder as she and Amara played at the Blackjack table. He gave the girls some tips, but he had no real interest in gambling himself, and started to get bored.

"Well, you ladies seem to have the hang of it," Kurt said. "I think I might see if I can track down Wanda and Rogue."

"What, you're not leaving are you?" Amanda asked.

"I can stay if you really want," Kurt replied with a shrug. "But this isn't really my thing."

"And shopping is?" Amara asked.

Kurt chuckled. "I can always come back here. In any case, if I don't see you before, I'll catch up with you again at the club."

x-x-x

Just when Kurt was starting to think that trying to locate Rogue and Wanda in the resort's shops was a fool's errand, he found them in one of the many clothing stores. The women were surprised to see him, but they welcomed his company.

"And what have you ladies been up to?" Kurt asked.

"Window shopping, mostly," Rogue replied.

"Wow, they sell windows here too?" Kurt replied ingeniously. "I had a feeling this place was bigger than I thought."

Rogue laughed. "Silly boy."

Kurt grinned at her.

"Hey Kurt," Wanda said, picking up a couple of dresses from the rack, "You're a man—"

"I am?" Kurt asked, batting his eyelids at her. "Oh good, I wasn't sure."

"—which do you think is sexier?"

"Umm," Kurt said, looking between the red dress and the black dress. "Is this a test or something?"

"No silly," Wanda replied, giving him a pitying look. "I want your opinion."

"Umm, well," Kurt said, scratching his head. "I...like the red one."

"So do I," Wanda said, and put the black one back. "Stay right there. I'm gonna go try it on."

Rogue looked at Kurt as Wanda disappeared into the change room. "And this is why going shopping with people like Wanda is a really bad idea. Twenty bucks says she'll be back out here, decides she doesn't like it after all, tries on the black one, as well as half a dozen other things in this store, and then will either buy to the red one, or declare that there's nothing in this store and leave."

"Huh," Kurt said with a nod. "Personal experience?"

"My best friend, Carol, once dragged me into a shop half this size, stayed there for two hours, tried on pretty much everything and then declared that they didn't have anything and left without buying a thing," Rogue said.

Kurt looked around and took in the size of the store. "No joke?"

"No joke," Rogue replied, smirking as she started going through the clothes herself. "I'm the one who has to go around covered up all the time. You'd think I'd be the one who was fussy about her clothes."

Kurt laughed. The two dissolved into idle chatter, and Kurt found he really liked talking to Rogue. He hadn't socialised with her quite as much as he had socialised with others in the house, Kitty and Piotr in particular.

Before too long, Wanda came back out in the red dress she had tried on. While both Kurt and Rogue assured her she looked gorgeous, she declared she wasn't sure and tried on the black one. As soon as Wanda was back in the change room, Kurt and Rogue looked at each other and laughed.

* * *

><p>At around the appointed time, the Beauties and Geeks arrived in dribs and drabs at the night club. Spyke was waiting out the front, and as each of the Geeks arrived, he told them they should spend some time tonight watching the flair bartending. Spyke took off after the last of the group arrived.<p>

Rogue, Kurt and Wanda were amongst the first to arrived. After they had gotten bored with shopping, they dropped off their few purchases back at their hotel rooms, and then decided to play a few friendly games of poker and Blackjack by themselves. After they arrived at the club, Wanda encouraged Kurt to go dancing with her. While the pair tore up the dance floor, Rogue found herself a good spot to watch the flair bartending with as little crowding as possible. She was a little thrown off at first, as all three bartenders looked identical.

Gambit and X-23 were the next to arrive. X-23 seemed quite content to sit by Rogue and watch the bartenders at work. Gambit was also quite content to sit by Rogue.

"I see Wanda and Kurt are having fun," Gambit said, gesturing to the dance floor.

Rogue looked away from the bartenders to glance at her friends, and then looked back at the bar. "Mmmhmm."

"Have fun shopping?"

"It was okay."

Gambit slid his arm around her waist. "Wanna come dance with me?"

"Absolutely not," Rogue replied firmly, her eyes remaining fixed on the bartenders.

"Aww," Gambit said, twisting his head around so that Rogue would see him pouting at her in her peripheral vision. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Nope," Rogue said. "You might be able to get me to dance on a roof top, Swamp Rat, but there is no way in hell you're getting me on a dance floor in the middle of a crowded night club."

Gambit moved in close to her. "Why not?"

"Because the last time I got talked into going to a night club, I was groped by some moron who had too much to drink, and before I had a chance to escape his clutches, the douche bag kissed me, thus getting him knocked out," Rogue said irritably. "It would have been nice if it had been left at that, except that in addition to being permanently assaulted with his disgusting little mind, I also ended up drunk. Not actually drunk, as I only had one beer, and that's not nearly enough to do the job. No, I absorbed his horny, drunken state, and ended up throwing myself at three or four different girls—absorbing them as well—before Carol was able to rescue me."

Gambit gave a low whistle.

"I didn't realise absorbing minds did that to you, chère," he said.

"Fortunately, I have better control than I did in terms of what happens when I first absorb a new personality," Rogue replied with dignity.

"Well, that's good news," he said, skipped a beat and then added: "Come dance with me."

Rogue finally looked at him with an expression of exasperation on her face. "Did you even hear a word I just said?"

"Oui, I heard," Gambit replied with a sly smile and a shrug. "I'm just not sure whether I heard 'I'm living life in fear' or 'I'm just making excuses'."

"I'm not living my life in fear!" Rogue exclaimed.

"Then you must be making excuses," Gambit said, standing up and taking her hand in the process. "Dance with me, chère. I promise I'll keep the big bad gropers away."

"Really?" Rogue challenged him as she allowed him to help her up. "Does that mean you'll stay away from me?"

"You wound me," Gambit said, pulling her nice and close. "I've never put my hands anywhere inappropriate on you. But, if you'd like me to start..."

"You're lucky I let you put your hands on me at all," Rogue snapped back as they walked over to the dance floor.

Gambit smiled at her. "I know."

Rogue was not expecting that response at all, and so didn't reply. In any case, she felt very awkward on the dance floor as she had no idea what she was doing.

While Gambit was coaxing Rogue into some semblance of dancing, the rest of the Beauties and Geeks arrived. Before the evening was over, all of them, even X-23, ended up on the dance floor. The Geeks also managed to spend time—some more than others—watching the bartenders at work.

* * *

><p>The following morning, the Geeks gathered in one of the hotel's event rooms with Spyke, a couple of camera crews, and a man that Rogue recognised as one of the bartenders from the night before. This particular event room had a wet bar, which is what they were all gathered around.<p>

"Okay Geeks," Spyke said. "For your challenge, you get to learn all about the art of flair bartending. And to teach you the basics, we have champion flair bartender, Jamie Madrox."

"Hey," Jamie said, giving the Geeks a nod, and with a clap of his hands, two duplicates appeared beside him.

"Whoa," Rogue said. That explained why the bartenders all looked alike.

The Jamies then proceeded to show off, tossing, juggling, twisting, spinning, flipping and balancing bottles, tins, and cups. By the end of the demonstration, Original Jamie had created a cocktail, a duplicate had produced another drink, and the second duplicate had filled up five shot glasses all at once.

After the demonstration, Jamie absorbed his duplicates and Spyke left him to instruct the Geeks on some basic moves. The Geeks then proceeded to practice with tins and flair bottles that were provided. The tins and flair bottles often ended up on the floor, although Kurt did managed to catch a couple of them with his tail. Jamie thought that was great.

"Seriously," Jamie said to them, "if it's at all possible for you to use your mutation in flair bartending, do it."

"Like you do?" Rogue asked with a sly smile.

Jamie grinned at her. "It's very useful, especially on busy nights."

Jamie stayed with them for a time, giving them tips and pointers pertaining to both the trick and interacting with the customer. He eventually left them to practice on their own. The challenge was going to be the next day, so the Geeks were forced to minimise their tourist activities to concentrate on practising.

The Beauties, on the other hand, with their Geeks so occupied, had more time to go shopping and hang out at the casino, and do other touristy things. They did check on their Geeks as they practised, some more so than others.

Wanda, who was a cocktail waitress, spent some time with Toad educating him about the drinks.

Lance actually worked as a flair bartender. Once he knew what the challenge was, he and Rogue returned to their hotel room.

"Okay so the first advice I can give you is practice," Lance said while Rogue balanced one of the practice bottles on the back of her hand. "Practice, practice, practice, and when you're done with that, practice."

Rogue laughed. She launched the bottle into the air and caught it neatly. Lance watched her as she practiced some of the moves that Jamie had taught them.

"Your hand-eye coordination is pretty good," he said. "But that alone won't make you a juggler, and being a juggler won't make you a bartender. You have to know the drinks."

"We were given a list of five drinks we have to learn," Rogue said, gesturing to a piece of paper she had placed on the table. "I mean, I think they want us to learn more than that in interests of the elimination round, but those are the five we need to know for the challenge tomorrow."

Lance picked up the list and glanced over it. "Piña Colada, Cosmo, Fuzzy Navel, Sex on the Beach,

Manhattan. Heh, I'm kind of looking forward to Fuzzy Elf making the Fuzzy Navel."

"He's just Elf now, remember?" Rogue replied cheekily.

"Just Elf, right," Lance replied with a smirk. "Okay, well, you keep practicing, and I'll tell you about making the drinks, and then I'll grill you on them."

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

><p>That evening, Gambit sat in the hotel room with X-23 while she practice.<p>

"Okay, so," Gambit said. "What do you think of this challenge so far?"

X-23 was silent for a long moment, and then finally said: "I do not understand why it is necessary to flip the bottles before pouring the contents."

"Show business. They're trying to impress their customers in the hopes of getting bigger tips, and probably return business," Gambit said.

"Oh."

"Makes sense?"

"It makes sense that they would want more money and repeat business," X-23 replied, continuing to slip bottles and tins in the air. "Why would this be impressive?"

"People are always impressed when others demonstrate some flashy ability they can't do," Gambit said, and fished out a deck of cards he had bought earlier. "It's irrelevant whether the ability is useful or not. Take these cards for example."

X-23 glanced at the cards as Gambit extracted them from their packet.

"Very useful for playing games," he said. "Being able to do fancy stuff like this? Not so much."

He fanned them out with one hand, then pushed them back into a deck again. Then he cut the deck into three and juggled the three piles in the air. He collected the three piles and put them back together again.

"And this," he continued, springing the cards from hand to hand, "actually damages the cards. While this," and with the deck in one hand he began to shuffle them, "is only actually useful if you're playing at somewhere other than a casino. It frees up the other hand to count chips and drink beer. But all of those impress people. They have absolutely no bearing on whether I can play poker or not."

"Then why do them?"

"Because I can."

* * *

><p>On their second morning in Las Vegas, the Beauties and Geeks gathered in one of the private poker rooms. It was only because of the special circumstances, plus the fact that they wouldn't actually be gambling with the casino's chips, that Wanda and Rogue were allowed into the casino. The women could feel the eyes of the security guard boring holes in the back of their heads as they crossed the main floor, and they were both very much relieved when they made it to the poker room, and the door was shut.<p>

The Beauties sat down at the single, large poker table that dominated the room. The Geeks stood behind their Beauty's chair, and Spyke stood at the dealer's position.

"Okay Beauties," said Spyke when all was in readiness. "For your challenge, you will be playing poker."

The housemates felt rather smug about that; they had rightly picked what the Beauties challenge was going to be.

"Strip poker."

Wanda, Amara and Amanda made exclamations of shock and horror. Lance, Toad and Pyro cheered. Kurt looked concerned. X-23 looked like she wasn't the slightest bit perturbed by this unexpected development, which she probably wasn't. Gambit laughed a little, and Rogue eyed Spyke like she was expecting there to be a catch.

"Yes, that's right," said Spyke, continuing on with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes, "Beauties, you will be playing strip poker... with your gentleman's clothes."

"Oh thank god," said Amanda in obvious relief. She wasn't wearing a bra.

"So, Toad, Pyro, Kurt; your Beauties will be playing with your clothes," Spyke reiterated to make sure everyone understood. "Remy, Lance; you'll be playing with your own clothes."

"Darn," Gambit said, his eyes firmly on Rogue. "So close."

Rogue glared at him at first, and then her glare was replaced with a sweet smile as she responded: "Pity. I wear so many extra items of clothing than average, Lance would have had an advantage."

"Obviously, for safety concerns, you can't strip," Spyke said to her. "And it wouldn't be fair on Laura if she was the only woman stripping. You guys be stripping down to your underwear, by the way. Once you're down to your underwear, and you have no other clothes left, you're out of the game. The last Beauty and Geek team standing, wins."

"What if I'm not wearing underwear?" Gambit asked with a completely straight face.

"Uhh," said Spyke, and it was obvious to everyone he had not expected to hear that. "I guess you're at a slight disadvantage then."

"So Remy," Amara said flirtatiously from the seat next to him. "_Are_ you wearing underwear?"

Gambit grinned at her. "I don't remember. I guess we'll find out, hein?"

"Oh man...Toad," said Wanda, turning her head to look back at her partner. "Please tell me you're wearing underwear."

"Yeah, I am," said Toad.

"Oh good."

Spyke cut into the nervous giggling to explain further:

"We'll be playing our own Beauty and the Geek version of Texas Hold 'em," he said. "Everyone puts in their bets, then we deal everyone two cards. You look at your cards, and then I deal the five community cards in the middle that you will need to complete your hand. We have a betting round, then you reveal your cards, and the Beauty with the best hand wins."

Spyke paused while everyone absorbed that, and then instructed them to 'ante up'. The first bets consisted of the guys' jackets. Spyke moved them aside, then dealt everyone two cards face down. The Beauties lifted just the corner of their cards to see what they were. The Spyke dealt the five community cards in the middle. Wanda was up first, and opened the betting with one of Toad's shoes.

Gambit's first hand wasn't very good, but he called the bet away. Mostly he just waned to lure everyone else into a false sense of security.

Wanda won the first round. She decided that she liked poker. Like the 'frumpy flirting' challenge previously, her innate understanding of probability gave her a slight edge in poker (probably one of the many reasons why mutants with probability based powers were barred from gaming in casinos). Going by the cards in her hand, and the community cards, Wanda was able to calculate the chances of someone having a better hand than herself in moments, allowing her to make split second decisions with none of the hesitation that comes with trying to calculate things.

On the second round, Amara decided to try bluffing and see what happened. Her hand wasn't very good, but she kept a confident smile on her face and stared down her opponents during the betting round. All the other Beauties folded.

Pleased with the success of her ploy, Amara tried it again the next round. Wanda and Gambit both folded because neither felt the odds were in their favour to win, regardless of Amara's bluffing strategy. Amanda was intimidated and folded. Lance called her bluff, mostly because he had seen how easily she had won the previous round—no cards were revealed at all—and didn't want to let her off so easy. In his efforts to undermine Amara, he ended up putting in all his remaining clothes besides his pants. Unfortunately, he lost; Amara had a pair of eights, and all he had was a high card, Ace.

At the start of the fourth round, Lance was forced to bet his pants, making him the first guy to end up in his underwear. He had to win this round in order to stay in the game. After the cards were dealt, Amara started the bidding with one of the shirts she recently acquired, then proceeded to stare down Amanda. Amanda looked at Amara, then at Kurt who was down to his pants, then at the community cards on the table: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Spades, Two of Diamonds and Three of Spades.

Amanda too another look at her own cards and finally back at Kurt.

"Give me your pants," she said, sounding resigned.

Reluctantly, Kurt unzipped his light jeans at the front, and unbuttoned the hole at the back where his tail passed through. He pulled down his pants, revealing the boxer shorts he wore as underwear (which also had a hole at the back for his tail), and handed his pants over to Amanda. This was embarrassing.

"Amanda is all in," said Spyke.

"Fold," Wanda said, pushing away her cards. The odds were not in her favour, and in any case, this round at least one team would be bankrupt.

"Lance is already all in," Spyke said.

Gambit pulled off his undershirt and put it on the table. Then he stood up and started on his pants.

"I raise," he said and shamelessly pulled off his pants and dropped them on top of his undershirt on the table. His magenta silk boxer shorts gave the girls the giggles.

Gambit sat back down again and smiled at Amara. Amara smile back at him and he could see a flicker of uncertainty in her eye.

"Call," she said without so much as a waver in her voice as she added a belt to the pile.

Spyke gathered the clothes and set them aside. "Amanda?"

Amanda turned over her cards: Aces of Spades and Ten of Spades.

"Amanda has a Flush to Ace," Spyke said. "Lance?"

Lance turned his cards over with some reluctance: Six of Spades and Eight of Diamonds.

"Lance has a Three of a Kind." Spyke said. "Remy?"

Gambit turned over his first card, the Four of Diamonds; and then the second, the Queen of Diamonds. He allowed himself a smirk.

"Gambit has Four of a Kind," Spyke said, sounding impressed despite his attempt to remain neutral. "Amara?"

Amara turned her cards over with some irritation: Eight of Heart and Ten of Hearts.

"Amara has Three of a Kind," said Spyke, and the gathered up the clothes. "Gambit wins with four Queens."

Gambit grinned as he received his winnings. The cards were gathered and placed in the card shuffling machine.

"Lance, Amanda," Spyke said. "I'm afraid you two are out of the game."

Lance and Amanda moved their chairs back just a little from the table, forcing Rogue and Kurt to stand back a little in the process. Kurt held his hands in front of his boxers in a vain attempt to retain some modesty and Rogue gave him a sympathetic smile.

Gambit, Amara and Wanda put in their opening bets for the next round. The cards were dealt and Gambit made a sharp intake of breath as he looked at his, knowing Amara would hear him, despite the fact that his cards were poor. After glancing at her two and the five in the middle, Wanda folded. Gambit opened the betting by dropping Kurt's and Lance's pants onto the table. He turned his head and smiled confidently at Amara.

"Fold," Amara said. She had thought her cards were okay, but she had been thrown of by Gambit's actions and the fact that she had lost the last round.

Gambit's winnings were passed to him, and he chuckled inwardly. He loved using aggressive bluffer's own tactics against them.

Gambit, Amara and Wanda put in their opening bets for round six. After the cards were dealt, Gambit opened up the bidding with a belt. Confidently, Amara raised with two items of clothing. Wanda called. Gambit folded; he was certain that Wanda wouldn't bet unless she believed she could win. It was close, but Amara's Flush to King just beat Wanda's Flush to Jack.

As Amara lifted her head after looking at the cards dealt to her for round seven, Gambit spotted her briefly twirl a lock of her hair in his peripheral vision. Whatever her cards were, Gambit was certain they weren't good. Nevertheless, it was her turn to open the bidding and with all the confidence in the world, she placed two items of clothing in the middle. She smiled confidently at Wanda. Wanda returned Amara's smile with a look that said 'not this again' and folded; not because of Amara, but because she just didn't have cards she was happy with.

Amara turned her confident smile on Gambit. Gambit smiled back at her and reached for his pile of clothes.

"Raise," he said, and dropped four items of clothing in the middle.

Amara and Gambit looked at each other, and uncertainty flickered in her eye. Gambit hoped that Amara would make the classic newbie mistake and call him instead of folding.

"Raise," Amara replied, and dropped two more items of clothing on the table.

"Call," Gambit replied.

"Okay," Spyke said after Gambit had put his bet on the table. "Remy?"

Gambit turned over his cards, and it took Spyke a moment to figure out his final hand: "Straight to Ten. Amara?"

Amara turned her cards over.

"High card, King," said Spyke. "Remy wins."

Spyke passed the pile of clothes to Gambit. Gambit's pile of clothes was now higher than Amara and Wanda's piles combined, even counting the clothes that Pyro and Toad were still wearing.

Amanda, Kurt, Lance and Rogue were getting rather bored. Pyro and Toad were both a little anxious, and X-23 didn't seem at all bothered by the time this was all taking.

Wanda won round eight after Gambit folded. Amara did try to bluff Wanda, but she lost and lost badly; her stock pile of clothes was now gone, and all she had left was what Pyro was wearing.

Gambit called Wanda's bet on round nine. Amara folded, and Wanda won; her full house beating Gambit's two pairs.

For round ten, after dealing the players their two cards each, Spyke placed the five community cards in the centre: Ten of Diamonds, King of Diamonds, Queen of Spades, Queen of Diamonds and Six of Diamonds.

"Amara," Spyke prompted after a moment.

Amara turned her head and looked at Pyro. "I need the rest of your clothes."

"How I wish sheilas would say that to me more often," Pyro replied as he obediently pulled off the last of his clothes. He made a show of it when he pulled his pants off too, and revealed his flame-themed boxer shorts.

"Amara is all in," said Spyke.

Wanda considered for a moment and ignored the way that Amara tried to stare her down. She placed four items of clothing on the table. "Raise."

"Call," Gambit said, and added his clothes to the pile.

"Amara?" Spyke said.

Amara turned over her cards: King of Clubs and Eight of Hearts.

"Two pair, Kings and Queens," said Spyke. "Wanda?"

Wanda's cards were the Ace of Clubs and the Jack of Hearts.

"Straight to Ace," Spyke announced. "Remy."

Gambit allowed himself a smile as he turned over his cards: Queen of Spade and Ten of Spades.

"Full House, Queens over Tens," Spyke said. "Remy wins. Amara, I'm sorry, but you're out of the game."

Amara nodded with disappointment and moved her chair out slightly from the table. Pyro patted her shoulder sympathetically. Gambit was given his winnings, and the cards were collected and put into the shuffling machine.

Wanda was a little nervous as she handed over a shirt for the first round of betting. Gambit had considerably more clothes than she did. She really didn't want to come in second two challenges in a row. She looked at her cards after Spyke dealt them; Five of Hearts and Eight of Hearts. In the middle he dealt the Ten of Spades, Five of Diamonds, Ten of Diamonds, Jack of Spades and Nine of Clubs. That gave her two pairs; Tens and Fives.

That also meant that Gambit had at a pair, but Wanda was reasonably confident that the odds were in her favour. She glanced over at Gambit and became more certain that she had the winning hand; he had a pensive look on his face as he rechecked his facedown cards.

"All in," Wanda said, and she glanced back at Toad. "Your pants, your shoes and your socks, please."

"Sure thing, babycakes," Toad replied cheerfully.

Wanda looked back at the table. "Please don't call me that."

Toad stripped off and gave Wanda his clothes.

"Call," Gambit said, and put the same number of clothes on the table.

"Gambit," Spyke said.

Wanda held her breath as she watched Gambit turn over his cards. Although she was relieved when she saw the Two of Spades, she knew she had lost when he turned over the Ten of Clubs.

"Three of a Kind," Spyke announced.

Disappointed, Wanda turned over her two cards.

"Two pairs, Tens and Five," said Spyke. "Remy wins. Wanda, I'm sorry, but with nothing left to bet, you're out of the game."

Wanda nodded and Spyke turned to Gambit.

"And as the only one with any clothes left, Remy wins the poker challenge," Spyke said. "Congratulations."

"Merci," Gambit replied.

"I'll leave you to get dressed," Spyke went on. "We'll meet for the Geeks challenge in two hours."

Spyke departed and the crew packed up. The men were quick to start putting their clothes back on, especially Kurt, who even when to the trouble of teleporting to the pile of clothes.

"So, Roguey," Gambit said as he pulled his pants back on. "Enjoy the show?"

"Oh absolutely," Rogue replied cynically, her eyes locked on his and resisting the temptation to look at his half naked body. "There's nothing I enjoy more than watching a bunch of guys being forced to strip off leading to various degrees of embarrassment and shameless exhibitionism."

"That's what I thought."

* * *

><p>Two hours later, everyone arrived at the events room that they had used the day before. The Beauties sat on stools by the bar, and the Geeks were directed to stay in another room. The Geeks would be sent in one at a time, and wouldn't be performing in front of the others. Jamie was back as the judge.<p>

Lance and Amanda both had high hopes for this challenge. It was the first time that Lance and Rogue had really worked together, and he was very pleased with how far Rogue had come over the last twenty-four hours. Amanda knew that Kurt had some experience with juggling from the circus, although Kurt claimed he had primarily been an acrobat, and his juggling skills were rusty. Still, she had seen him practice and was very impressed.

"First up," Spyke announced, "Pyro."

Pyro stepped through the door and grinned broadly at everyone.

"G'day mates," he said. "I'll be your bartender today. How's a little Sex on the Beach sound?"

Pyro's biggest disappointment about this challenge—aside from the fact that he kept dropping everything—was that he wasn't allowed to make a Blue Blazer. The fact that it was one of the flaming drinks was the reason why Pyro wanted to make it, and the same reason why it wasn't even considered for five novice bartenders.

The good news was that Pyro knew the recipes for all five drinks; there were just a lot of spills, drops and bad jokes that went with it.

"Next up, Laura."

X-23 nodded to the waiting Beauties as she entered. She remembered Jamie's instructions about smiling and winking at the 'customers', and took this advice seriously. Unfortunately, X-23's false smile was a little unnerving. Otherwise, her coordination was excellent; she only dropped one bottle, although she did spill a little drink here and there when trying to flip bottles that were a little bit too full.

"And now, Toad."

Toad also knew the drinks, and had much better coordination than Pyro did, although not quite as good as X-23. His jokes were fairly corny, but on the whole, he was dong fairly well right up until he accidentally threw one of the bottles a little too hard. Knowing he wouldn't be able to catch it with his hands in time, Toad flicked out his tongue and not only caught the bottle, but proceeded to use his tongue to pour the contents into the tin. Jamie reflected that there were times that using one's mutation wasn't necessarily a good idea after all.

"Next we have Rogue."

Rogue's entrance won her a wolf whistle from Gambit. After some experimenting with the gloves she had brought with her, she decided that her black leather ones had the best grip, and subsequently built the rest of her outfit around those gloves: Black leather pants, boots, vest, and a white long sleeved shirt. She wanted to glare at Gambit, but in the interests of her challenge, she instead smiled at him, blew him a kiss and asked

"Do you like Piña Coladas," she half-sang, "getting caught in the rain?"

"As long as I'm with you, chère," Gambit replied.

Rogue smirked at him and pulled out all the glass wear she needed for the drinks she had to make.

Lance was very pleased with Rogue's performance. She had taken all his advice and suggestions on board, and the endless practice had paid off. She wasn't drop or spill free—none of them had been—but Lance felt she had been the most professional so far.

"Finally, Kurt."

Kurt's beginnings in the circus more than paid off. His fingers and tail had found their former skills in juggling. One of the favourite moments was when he tossed one bottle from one hand to the other a couple of times, then caught it with his tail and poured it into the waiting glass. Another time was when he played a little game of "hide and seek" after his tail "stole" the cranberry juice he needed.

After Kurt's turn was over, all the Geeks were brought back out, and instructed to stand with their Beauties. Jamie headed over to a corner in the far end of the event room, created about five duplicates, and proceeded to debate with them about who should win.

"Wow," said Kurt. "Kind of brings a new meaning to 'talking to yourself,' doesn't it?"

Eventually, Jamie's deliberations ended, and he and his duplicates rejoined the group.

"Okay, Jamie," said Spyke. "How did our Geeks go?"

"Well, I think they all did pretty well," Original Jamie said, "especially for people who have only been bartending for twenty-four hours. You did great."

One of the duplicates snorted with contemptuous laughter. "Noobs."

"Hey don't be rude," another duplicate admonished him.

"Ahem, as I was saying," Original Jamie went on. "It really came down to two people; Rogue and Kurt. Rogue, you were great. You knew the drinks. You were very professional and efficient. You recovered well when you dropped stuff."

"You're hot," added the third duplicate.

Gambit glared at him, but he was much too focused on Rogue and the startled expression on her face to notice.

"Say, after this is over," the duplicate continued, "if you're not leaving Vegas straight away, how'd you like to—"

Original Jamie clamped his hand over the third duplicate's mouth and absorbed him back into him.

"Uhh, sorry about him," he said, looking embarrassed.

"Man I hate that guy," said a fourth duplicate. "He's nothing but trouble! Did you know he went and slept with two of our friends, and got one of them pregnant? And we just won't go into what happened to the baby—"

"Oh man, sorry about him too," Jamie said, looking even more embarrassed as he absorbed all his duplicates back into himself. "Anyway, where was I before my dupes decided to display my dirty laundry? Oh yeah. Kurt, you were also great. A lot of fun to watch, too. If you had a bar, customers would buy drinks just to see what that tail of yours would do next."

Kurt laughed.

"Danke," he said.

"And the winner?" asked Spyke.

"Well, I've never been much good at making decisions, which was why the peanut gallery showed up," Jamie said ruefully. "So after a vote, we decided that the winner is...Kurt."

Amanda squealed with delight and hugged Kurt tightly. Kurt, grinning broadly, hugged her back.

* * *

><p>The Beauties and Geeks had the rest of the day to do what they wanted. They split up and went off to spend time at the casino, shopping, and doing other touristy things.<p>

Gambit managed to worm his way into having dinner with Rogue at one of the hotel's restaurants. Rogue wasn't quite as reluctant as she pretended to accept his invitation, despite the fact that she didn't think it would be wise to encourage him.

Regardless of Rogue's misgivings—and the fact that there was a camera crew nearby—she and Gambit had a wonderful evening together. She tried to forget that Gambit probably considered this a date and instead preferred to act as if she was just enjoying some quality time with a friend. They enjoyed some good conversation, and some laughs, although it was a little harder to think of Gambit as 'just a friend' when they shared dessert and he made a point of feeding her some.

"How much is it?" Rogue asked when the bill arrived.

"Don't worry, I've got it," Gambit told her, fishing a card out of his wallet.

"I'm sure you do, but I'd prefer to contribute," she replied.

"It would be wasted money, chère," Gambit said. "I'm getting it for free."

"You are?"

"Effectively. I had a couple of wins in the casino," he replied casually. "Plenty to cover dinner."

"Oh," Rogue replied, and left it at that, not really knowing what else to say.

* * *

><p>Lance, Pyro, Amara and Amanda busied themselves with a few games of poker on the trip back home the next day. Kurt, Wanda and Toad sat around another table and chatted amongst themselves. X-23 looked on quietly.<p>

Gambit sat next to Rogue and held her hand as she looked out the window. Occasionally they joined the others in conversation, but at that moment, Rogue was busy trying to figure out what she should do about Gambit. She liked him and she enjoyed his company, but he couldn't seem to get it through his thick skull that they couldn't be anything more than friends. It was highly frustrating and to make it worse she was sure she must be giving him mixed signals; one minute she was pushing him away, then next she was melting into his arms. Her heart and her brain couldn't seem to decide on the correct course of action.

Rogue was dreading Carol's reaction to all of this. Carol had been trying to get her to socialise more and get a boyfriend for years. Not only would Carol love Gambit, but Rogue was also convinced that Carol would happily conspire with Gambit to get her out on more dates with him. She supposed she should be glad that Gambit lived in Louisiana and not in New York...

Rogue paused in her deliberations. That was right; they did live in completely different states, and not even ones next to each other either. With such a difference between them, it was likely that they would hardly see each other after this was over. Rogue looked down at their joined hands. For someone as touchy-feely as Gambit, Rogue couldn't see him handling a long-distance relationship very well. Perhaps giving into him now wouldn't be so bad after all. They could have their little fling, such as it was, and then when they went back to the real world, distance would kill off any chance of further romance before they could hurt each other and they could be just friends instead.

Pleased with her conclusion, Rogue disentangled her fingers from his. Gambit made a pouting kind of noise in response which satisfied Rogue that she was right about him not being able to handle a long-distance relationship. She took his hand, wrapped the arm it was attached to around her shoulders and snuggled into his side.

Gambit looked down at Rogue in shock as she rested her head against his shoulder. This was a surprise. He had no idea what has inspired Rogue to do this, but he wasn't going to complain, and snuggled close to her in turn. He knew there was a big, silly smile on his face, but he didn't care. In fact, Wanda happened to look up right at that moment and saw them. She nudged Kurt, who looked, and then gave Gambit two thumbs up. Gambit grinned back at them.

* * *

><p>Unfortunately, the happy moment was not to last. After their return to the Beauty and the Geek mansion, Gambit, X-23, Kurt and Amanda met in one of the bedrooms to discuss who to send to elimination.<p>

"I'll be frank—" Gambit began.

"Okay, hi Frank," Kurt replied cheekily. "I'm Kurt, how're you doing?"

Amanda snickered as Gambit flashed Kurt a smirk.

"I don't want to send Rogue and Lance," Gambit said. "I'm sure you can all figure out why, and it has nothing to do with the game."

"I'd be inclined to let you practice your blatant favouritism," Kurt replied, "but I don't really want to see Wanda and Toad go in. Not twice in a row."

"I'm divided," Amanda admitted. "On the one hand, yeah, I think it's a little mean to send Wanda and Toad in twice in a row. On the other hand, they are a tough team. I guess, in terms of strategy, sending Wanda and Toad in would be the smart thing."

"Amara and Pyro may be the best match for Wanda and Toad, if you intend to get Wanda and Toad out of the game," X-23 said, surprising everyone by speaking up and saying so much. "Wanda and Amara both did well at the poker challenge. I do not know how well Pyro and Toad know the flair bartending material, but the fact that neither were mentioned as potential runners up suggests that they are on par with each other."

"Pyro might not be a good juggler, but I'm sure he knows the material," said Amanda. "And Wanda's a cocktail waitress. Okay, so maybe she doesn't actually mix the drinks, that doesn't mean she doesn't know them, or that she hasn't done a good job teaching Toad."

"I think it would be best to assume she's done a good job teaching Toad," Gambit said. "And Kurt, I get what you're saying about not wanting to send them in twice in a row. I do, really. But, well, think about it. This may well be the last nomination. There's only going to be four teams left and based on how things have gone so far, unless one team manages to win both challenges next round, the teams going to elimination are the teams that don't win a challenge."

Kurt frowned. "I suppose that's true."

"It's a little scary, actually," Amanda said. "We're over halfway."

"Exactly," Gambit said, looking Amanda deeply in the eyes. "So you can understand why I would like to maximise the time I have left with Rogue."

* * *

><p>Some time later, the housemates gathered on the stairs in the foyer. Spyke stood in front of them and on either side was Gambit and X-23, Kurt and Amanda.<p>

"Good evening," Spyke said. "Unfortunately, it's that time again; elimination. Remy, you won the poker challenge, thereby securing your team a place in the final four. Kurt, you won the flair bartending challenge, ensuring your team would be in the final four. But with great power comes great responsibility. Remy, who have you and Laura chosen to send to the elimination room?"

Gambit took a deep breath and looked at everyone.

"Unfortunately, it seems we have reached the stage of the game where we have to start turning on our friends," he said. "Which is great if you enjoy feeling like a scumbag. And since this looks like it'll be our last or our second last chance to choose who goes to elimination, we've decided to send the team we think is the biggest competition in the house; Wanda and Toad."

"Wow, biggest competition," Wanda said before Spyke could prompt her. "Are you sure that's your reason, Remy? Or are you just looking for excuses not to send your girlfriend?"

Rogue bristled, but said nothing and avoided making eye contact with anyone.

"Both actually," Gambit replied ruefully. "I was looking for excuses not to send Rogue, and Laura actually had her head in the game and was doing the strategic thinking. She's good at that. Look, I'm really sorry, Wanda. I know this is going to be your third time in."

"It's cool," Toad said, surprising both of them, and continuing when he saw the unimpressed look on Wanda's face. "What? I'd probably do the same in his position."

"Hmph."

"Kurt," Spyke said then, turning to the other winning team. "Who have you and Amanda chosen to send to elimination?"

"Well, like Remy said, we're coming to the stage of the game where we do have to nominate our friends. I don't want to send any of you in. If it were in my power I'd send myself and Amanda—"

"Hey!" Amanda said, smacking his arm lightly with the back of her hand.

"Amanda disagrees," Kurt said without missing a beat. "Another reason why this whole process sucks; not agreeing on who to send. Anyway, the team we have chosen to send is Amara and Pyro."

"Right, couldn't see that one coming," Amara muttered.

"What she said," Pyro replied with a shrug. "Hey with only three teams to choose from, it was kind of expected. I'm actually a little surprised we didn't end up back in elimination last week."

"Okay then," said Spyke. "Wanda and Toad, Amara and Pryo; pack your things, say your good byes, and I'll meet you in the elimination room."

The housemates turned and trudged up the stairs.

"Man," Amara said as they got to the top. "Who do you have to sleep with to get out of going to elimination these days? Oh wait..."

Rogue turned on her, eyes blazing, at the top of the stairs. "Do you have something you want to say to me?"

Amara gave Rogue a snide look. "Yeah. How does it feel knowing you're going to be an old maid?"

"I don't know. How does it feel knowing you're not going to get anywhere in life unless you sleep with your boss?" Rogue snapped back at her.

"Bitch."

"Slut."

"Ladies, ladies," said Pyro. "You're both pretty."

* * *

><p>There wasn't as much packing as there might have been normally, since most were still packed from their trip to Vegas. Most of the allotted time was spend doing last minute study and saying good byes.<p>

Rogue knocked on Wanda and Toad's door, and they looked up from where they sat on one of the beds.

"Hey," Rogue said.

"Hey," Toad replied.

Wanda gave her a bare nod.

"Just wanted to wish you guys good luck," Rogue said.

"Thanks," Wanda said, then frowned when Gambit appeared in the doorway behind Rogue. "Remy."

Rogue coughed uncomfortably. "Well, hopefully I'll see you guys again later."

Gambit touched Rogue's arm as she turned and left, then looked at Wanda and Toad.

"So, yeah," Gambit said. "Good luck guys."

"Thanks Remy," Toad said. "And, ahh, good luck with Rogue."

"Heh, thanks," Gambit replied as Wanda snorted. "Something wrong, chère?"

"Like you need any luck with Rogue," she said irritably, then sighed and went on: "Sorry Remy. It's not really you. I'm just pissed about going into elimination again. And I like Pyro. I'm not really looking forward to the him or me thing either."

Toad coughed uncomfortably.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Gambit said, scratching his head. "Like I said before, turning on your friends is a great way to feel like a scumbag."

"Previous experience?" Wanda asked.

Gambit gave a slight shrug as he stepped backwards out of the room. "And the rest."

x-x-x

Amanda gave Amara a big hug. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

Amara sniffed. "I just... It's just... I don't want to leave like this. What she said, I'm smarter than that."

"Of course you are," Amanda said, rubbing Amara's back reassuringly. "Rogue was just mad. We all say stuff we don't mean when we're mad. I've no doubt that when this experience is over, that you'll be able to do anything you set your mind to, and you won't need to sleep with the boss either."

Amara sniffed again. "Thank you, Amanda."

* * *

><p>While Amara, Pyro, Wanda and Toad were battling it out in the elimination room, Rogue, Lance, Gambit, X-23, Kurt and Amanda waited in the upstairs bedroom. The bedroom felt particularly empty.<p>

"I'm not sure which is worse," Kurt said after a time. "The waiting, or actually being in the elimination room."

"The worst part is knowing that no matter who comes up those stairs, we've lost another two friends," Rogue said from where she stood by the window.

"Agreed," Amanda said.

"Yeah," added Kurt with a nod towards Rogue.

Rogue turned her head slightly to look at the pair.

"I'm not used to making friends," she admitted softly. "Heck, I've made more friends since I've been here than I have in years. I usually push people away."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Kurt said jokingly. "I don't think Remy did either."

Gambit chuckled and Rogue gave him a faint smile.

"But this isn't the end, not really," Kurt insisted. "Sure, the Beauty and the Geek experience might be, but the friendships we make while we're here, they can go on for as long as we're willing to make them work. I hope that I get to see all of you again once this is over."

Rogue turned her smile on Kurt then, and Gambit tried not to let himself get jealous over it.

"Yeah," she said. "I hope so too."

x-x-x

"The score is three to three," said Spyke, addressing the two Beauties standing before him. "Wanda, if you get this question right, you and Toad stay in the house. If you don't, we go to a tie breaker."

"Hit me," Wanda replied confidently.

Spyke picked up the final Beauty question, and then smiled to himself at the irony. "In Blackjack, what two numbers can an Ace represent?"

Wanda chewed her bottom lip and thought back to their trip to Vegas, and the little time she had spent playing Blackjack with Kurt and Rogue.

"A one or an eleven," she said finally.

"That is correct," Spyke said and Wanda breathed a sigh of relief. "Gentlemen, if you could return to the elimination room."

Disappointment was etched on Amara's face and Pyro hugged her as soon as he stepped through the door. Toad hugged Wanda too, but for entirely different reasons.

"Congratulations," Spyke said. "Wanda, Toad, you've survived another elimination. Unfortunately, Amara, Pyro; it's been great having you here, but I'm afraid I now have to ask you to leave."

Amara nodded, her eyes full of tears. Wanda gave her a hug and then gave Pyro one. Toad shook Pyro's hand and hugged Amara. Finally, Pyro took Amara's hand and they left the room.

As Wanda and Toad headed upstairs to tell the others of their victory, Pyro and Amara sat with the camera crew outside.

"I'm not ready to go home," said a teary Amara. "I was having such a great time, and I feel like there's still so much more I needed to learn."

"This has been a great experience," said Pyro. "I got to hang out with a bunch of people I wouldn't normally hang out with, even became friends with them, had a little romance, not to mention I now have a zillions ideas for books I can't wait to start writing."

"Oh you," Amara said, smacking his arm.

Pyro chuckled.


	8. Episode 7

**AN: **So for those of you who are interested, I made a video to go with this story. It's supposed to be the opening credits. I really only made it for my own amusement, but then I really only wrote this story for my own amusement so I figured, why not share the video too? Haha.

www DOT youtube DOT com /watch?v=p8YZiy91kcE

* * *

><p><strong>Episode 7<strong>

Gambit joined Rogue for breakfast outside the next morning. There was a cool breeze, but otherwise it was quite warm and a pleasant place to eat.

"Morning," he said as he set his plate down beside hers.

"Morning," she replied.

There was an odd kind of silence as Gambit sat down. They ate in that silence for a time, until finally, Rogue spoke up.

"I'm just curious, Remy," she said. "If, umm, if you didn't...have feelings for me, would you have sent us into elimination last night?"

Gambit let out a long slow breath, his eyes on his plate.

"I have no idea," he said at last. "I can't, won't, and haven't denied that I wanted you to stay in the house, and that was my main influence. However, strategically, sending Wanda and Toad in instead of you was still the smart thing to do."

Rogue nodded. "I was just wondering."

Gambit turned his head and considered her for a moment as he cut off his next mouthful. "Amara's comment about 'who do you have to sleep with' got to you?"

Rogue shrugged.

"You'd think I'd be used to the 'old maid' jokes by now," she said.

Gambit put his hand on her nearest shoulder and rubbed her gently. "I somehow don't think they're supposed to be jokes."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"You're welcome, Inconspicuous Girl."

Rogue laughed and a more comfortable silence followed.

"So, ahh," Gambit said, feeling a little awkward, and feeling irritated about feeling awkward, "I was hoping that, ahh, after this Beauty and the Geek thing is over, maybe you'd like to get together with me sometime?"

"Are you asking me out on a date, or asking me to be your girlfriend?" Rogue asked, picking up her glass of orange juice.

"Both," Gambit said and Rogue made a non-committal grunt as she drank. "That a problem?"

Rogue shrugged and put her glass back down.

"Well, on top of the fact that I'm untouchable, we live in different states," she said. "Do you really think we have a chance of working?"

"More, actually," Gambit replied. "Harder to get frustrated about not being able to touch."

"Uh huh. You don't think you might start having issues about not getting any?" Rogue asked skeptically. "Maybe start seeing someone else on the side?"

"I don't cheat," Gambit said firmly.

Rogue snorted contemptuously and Gambit glared at her.

"I don't have times for cheating," he said angrily. "I'm too busy being jealous to even consider it."

"Jealous," Rogue repeated with disbelief.

"I have a jealous streak a mile long," Gambit told her. "The kind where I get jealous when I see my girlfriend hugging her male cousin. Worse, I even _knew_ he was her cousin and that they weren't at all interested in each other like that, and I still went off my rocker."

Rogue looked at Gambit like she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

"Seriously?" she asked.

"Seriously. Irrational jealousy is the primary cause of breakups with women I actually care about," Gambit said, picking at his food. "So, in the interests of full disclosure, know that regardless of how long a distance we may or may not be, I will likely drive us both insane with insatiable anxiety."

"Oookay..." Rogue said slowly, "what about women you don't care about?"

"Boredom, irritation or—in more recent times—started to develop feelings for them," Gambit replied glumly.

"You break up with women because you start to care about them?" Rogue asked in astonishment.

"I can't live with the anxiety, I figure sooner or later I'm just going to sabotage my own relationship, so why not end it now and that way I don't have to deal with the stress. I haven't dated a woman I cared about in years now."

Rogue stared at Gambit for a long moment.

"Wow," she said finally. "You know, I think this is the first time anyone's ever told me they're just as screwed up as I am."

Gambit cracked a tiny smile.

"So, why me?" Rogue asked. "Why are you...putting your womanising on hold for me?"

Gambit shook his head, and threw his fork down on his plate.

"Damn, Rogue, I have no idea," he said. "I even got jealous while you were doing the speed dating. I knew you weren't going to be seeing any of those guys again, hell, we weren't even a couple, and still my blood was boiling. Normally that would be a pretty good indication I should stay away from you."

"Wow, really?" Rogue asked with an incredulous smile on her face. "You were jealous of the speed date?"

"I told you it was irrational," he said, and sighed. "I don't know. I think my heart's gotten tired of being spat on and has decided to mutiny."

Rogue laughed. She reached over and took his hand in hers. Gambit looked up at her with a despairing look in his eye.

"Okay," she said. "I'll go out with you. On a date, that is. I'm not really sure about the girlfriend thing just yet."

Gambit smiled. "Great."

* * *

><p>The housemates entered the study. On the desk were a couple of fashion magazines and a history book. Neither items filled anyone with much hope. They sat down on the two lounges. On one was Lance, Rogue holding hands with Gambit, and X-23; and on the other were Amanda, Kurt, Wanda and Toad. Finally Spyke entered the room.<p>

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning," everyone replied.

"How does it feel to be part of the final four?"

"Good."

"Great."

"Scary."

"Didn't expect to be here still."

Spyke smiled. "For your next challenge, Beauties, you'll be learning all about modern history."

A series of groans followed.

"And Geeks, you'll be learning all about fashion."

Another series of groans followed, this time from the Geeks, and it came with a small cheer from the Beauties. Spyke put his hands on the two piles on the desk.

"These are your study materials. Good luck. I'll see you tomorrow.."

* * *

><p>Gambit sat down with X-23 at the table and listened intently as X-23 lectured him on the material. This was the first challenge he had gone into unarmed with existing knowledge. His education in history was mostly limited to the history of the Thieves Guild; the rest of it served him no practical purpose and so he paid very little attention to it. Now that inattention was coming up to bite him, and it was vital that he took X-23's tutelage seriously.<p>

Later they swapped and Gambit took the time to teach X-23 about fashion. He found it a little bizarre that he knew more about women's fashions than X-23 did, and he blamed it on all the ex-girlfriends who had dragged him clothes shopping in the past.

Toad found that Wanda actually had a better grasp of modern history than he did. They ended up spending more time on the fashions side of things.

The opposite was true for Rogue and Lance. Despite her preferred choice of dress, which had been abandoned since the makeover, Rogue actually had a pretty good sense of fashion. They ended up concentrating on the modern history material.

Kurt and Amanda's studies were just as productive as everyone else's.

* * *

><p>The next day, the housemates were taken to the museum of modern history. Amanda and Wanda were dressed in navy blue skirts and white blouses, while Gambit and Lance were dressed in navy blue pants and white dress shirts. Upon their arrival, they were introduced to Roberto, the curator of the museum.<p>

"I hope you've studied hard, Beauties," said Spyke, "because you're going to be conducting a tour."

"What?"

"You have to be kidding me."

"Roberto will be coming along to see how you do," Spyke went on. "Your Geeks may also join you, but they can't help you."

x-x-x

Although Wanda's knowledge of the World War I exhibit was to be desired, Roberto felt she did fairly well at the World War II exhibit. She was also able to answer questions very well.

"And these," Wanda said, gesturing to a couple of large photos in the third and final exhibit she was to give a tour of, "are the earliest known mutants: Professor X, Sabretooth, Wolverine, Storm, Destiny, Mystique and Magneto. Of course, we met Sabretooth and Wolverine in the earlier exhibits."

Wanda then gestured to another display, one of a couple of manikins supposed to be Magneto and Professor X sitting down and playing chess.

"Professor X and Magneto. As a boy, Magneto was victimised during the holocaust. His experiences there led him to believe that no one would accept mutants any more than the Nazis would accept Jews, or the many other different people they were prejudiced against. However," Wanda went on with a smug tone in her voice, "Magneto underestimated the influence popular culture would have on the world at large, and by the time the mutant population boom hit, everyone was so inured to things like supernatural beings, vampire slayers, aliens, artificial and fictional mutants, that real mutants were instantly accepted. Magneto and his friend Professor X were the ones to start the first and most successful mutant power training school: Academy X."

Wanda gestured to another manikin, this one of the infamous Storm.

"Storm, Queen of Wakanda, is best known for her efforts to bring rain to drown-affected farmland across the world," Wanda told them. "She married His Majesty, T'challa, King of Wakanda, and it is said that the country of Wakanda is a paradise in no small part due to her powers of weather control."

Wanda then took the tour to the final display in the room.

"These are Mystique and Destiny. Mystique is a shapeshifter, and she once lead a team called Freedom Force, which worked for the United States government. Destiny was also a member of this team and it's said that her precognitive powers accurately predicted a number of events that lead to not only mutant acceptance, but also prevented a number of anti-mutant cults from gaining popularity. She was murdered ten years ago, and being a precog, this is treated as something of a joke. Mystique insists that Destiny knew it was coming and allowed it to happen. Yes, you have a question?"

"Where's Mystique now?" asked the young man.

"For all I know, _you_ could be Mystique," Wanda replied with a sly grin. "I know she was a gifted shape shifter, but she could be dead too for all anyone knows."

Roberto nodded and jotted down notes as Wanda ended the tour. If all the Beauties were going to be this good, he was going to have a hard time deciding on a winner.

Roberto need not have feared. Lance, Amanda and Gambit were obviously ignorant about a lot of things in the exhibits, moreso than Wanda, although Gambit appeared to be a master of bluffing his way through things. He remained completely composed and charming throughout and shamelessly made up things when he wasn't certain without so much of bat of the eye. There wasn't even an 'umm' or 'ahh' out of him. Amanda and Lance were good with the crowd, although Amanda often appeared flustered.

After the tours were over, the Beauties and Geeks were gathered together for the verdict.

"First," Roberto said, addressing them, "I'd like to applaud all of your for giving it a try. Being a tour guide is not an easy job."

_"Tell __me __about __it,"_ Amanda thought to herself. She was go glad it was over.

"I'm going to give an honourable mention to Remy for keeping his composure," Roberto said, with a nod towards Gambit. "If I wasn't so familiar with the material, I might not have realised that you were BSing us whenever you were uncertain about something."

Gambit grinned and chuckled wickedly.

"The winner of this challenge, however," Roberto said, "is Wanda."

"Yes!" Wanda cheered and everyone grinned and applauded her while Toad gave her a hug.

"Great job, Wanda," said Spyke. "That means you and Toad have guaranteed yourself a place in the final three. Congratulations."

* * *

><p>Afterwards, the housemates were then taken to a studio. The Beauties were told to wait outside while the Geeks were take inside. In the main room, there were a number of racks of clothing and the Geeks glanced at these with some curiosity and nervousness as they waited for their instructions.<p>

"Okay Geeks," said Spyke. "By now you should know your partners pretty well; how they like to dress, what colours they prefer, what their dress size is..."

"Err..." Rogue said uncertainly.

"For your challenge, you will be directing a fashion shoot," Spyke went on, flashing a grin at Rogue. "You will need to put together two outfits—one evening wear and one set of lingerie—for your Beauties to model. You will then have to photograph them in those clothes and pick out the best photo for each outfit. The Geek who produces the best photos, wins."

The Geeks eyed each other apprehensively. Spyke gestured to two of the four racks of clothes.

"Rogue, Laura; these two racks are yours," Spyke said, then gestured to the other two. "Kurt, Toad, these are yours. Good luck."

Spyke departed and the Geeks got to work picking out outfits. When they were done choosing, they were each directed to a small changing room each, where they found their Beauties. The Beauties had been advised of the photo shoot, so the Geeks only needed to leave the clothes with them, and then the Geeks went elsewhere while they waited.

x-x-x

Wanda felt that the evening wear part of the shoot went fairly well. She liked the little red dress that Toad picked out for her, although some of the ideas Toad came up with were a little odd.

Unfortunately, when it came time for the lingerie shoot, Wanda felt like she was in some sort of cheap porno. She was really uncomfortable posing in underwear in front of Toad of all people, and he didn't exactly do much to change that. He didn't even seem to notice. The only good part about it was that while there had been a few others helping Toad with the evening wear portion, the crew had left to give her some privacy for the lingerie end.

x-x-x

It wasn't until Gambit was changing that he realised that X-23 had been paying more attention to things than he thought. The clothes that she picked out for him were exactly the kinds of things he would have picked himself, and they were definitely things he knew he looked good in.

The place where X-23 ended up struggling was the actual shoot. She went about it very matter-of-factly without much artistic direction, and the instructions she gave him for posing pretty much matched the positions from the men's fashion magazine they had looked at as part of her study materials. Gambit wasn't allowed to offer suggestions, so the best he could do was try to look like he was having fun with it, rather than looking awkward.

x-x-x

Amanda effectively giggled the whole way through the photo shoot. The clothes Kurt picked out for her were okay, and she had been very nervous about the lingerie part of the photo shoot, but Kurt made her feel so at ease, and so comfortable, she was able to forget her nerves.

x-x-x

Rogue didn't have any ideas about how to handle the photo shoot: it seemed her creativity was limited to music. She decided that the best thing to do was to let Lance do anything he wanted in front of the camera, and occasionally she threw in suggestions when he did something she thought worked.

* * *

><p>The Geeks picked out the final photos, then they and their partners took a break while the photos were printed and set up. They returned to the studio when all was ready. There were four stands set up with cloth covering the frames that were being held up. Next to Spyke was a woman dressed in skimpy white clothes.<p>

"How do you think the photo shoot went?" Spyke asked them.

There were general murmurs in reply.

"Okay, well, this is Emma Frost," Spyke said, gesturing to the woman beside him. "She'll be judging this challenge. But first, we should see the photos. First up, Toad."

The cloth was lifted from the first stand and revealed two photos of Wanda. She looked a little uptight in the evening wear photo, and downright embarrassed in the lingerie photo.

"Hmm, yes well, you seem to have some idea of what's flattering," Emma said primly as her eyes glanced over the photos. "Pity you didn't seem to care enough about your model to make her feel comfortable."

Toad looked down at the floor.

"Laura," Spyke announced next.

The photos of Gambit were then revealed. Emma looked these over and then glanced at X-23 and Gambit.

"Good clothes, nice model," she said. "But there's no soul in these photos. You may as well have been taking cheap shots at a family picnic."

X-23 frowned at that, and Gambit rubbed her shoulder.

"Kurt."

Emma nodded when she looked at the photos of Amanda.

"Good," she said. "Your model looks happy and relaxed. At least one of you is capable of communicating properly with your model."

Kurt beamed with pride.

"Not really her best angle, but they'll do," Emma went on.

"And finally, Rogue."

The last set of photos were revealed and Lance was seen clowning around in silly poses.

"Mmmhmm," Emma said condescendingly. "Good clothes, and I suppose he looks happy enough, although those are hardly flattering pictures."

Rogue frowned.

"And the winner?" Spyke asked.

Emma sighed as if she was really put out about having to choose a winner from one of those four.

"Kurt," she said.

While Kurt and Amanda celebrated, Gambit looked over at Rogue with disappointment. This meant that he and Rogue would be facing each other in the elimination room. That was the last thing he wanted.

* * *

><p>Gambit wandered into Rogue and Lance's bedroom while she packed.<p>

"Hey," he said.

Rogue glanced up at him, then shoved another handful of gloves into her suitcase. "Hey."

Gambit sighed and sat down on the bed next to her suitcase.

"This sucks," he said. "No matter who wins, we lose."

"It's not really that bad, Remy," Rogue said, returning to the wardrobe to grab another handful of clothes. "We made it to the final four. There's very little of this contest left. We'll see each other again."

"I was hoping we'd both end up in the final two," he said.

"I'm just happy I got this far, sugar," Rogue replied, shoving more clothes into her suitcase. "I thought I was going to get eliminated way before now."

"That's not a very positive attitude," Gambit said, and frowned as Rogue zipped up the current suitcase and replaced it with another. There was already another packed suitcase nearby. "You have an awful lot of clothes for a Geek, chère."

"I have to cover up from head to toe," Rogue replied as she made another trip to the wardrobe. "And _someone_ I know talked me into unpacking my things."

Gambit chuckled and Rogue threw a grin at him.

"Is it bad that I already miss you?" he asked.

Rogue grabbed more clothes from the wardrobe and didn't reply until after she dropped these into the suitcase.

"Yes," she said. "If you can't handle this teeny, tiny parting, there's no way you're going to handle a long-distance relationship."

"Apples and oranges," Gambit insisted. "We won't be able to talk to each other until this is over. Once we're both back in the real world, I could call you every day if I wanted."

"If you call me _every_ day, I will hang up on you," Rogue replied tolerantly, heading back to the wardrobe again.

Gambit laughed. "It's not that I would, it's that I could."

"Mmmhmm."

He gestured towards her guitar case as she shoved more clothes into her bag.

"You know, Roguey," he said. "I've heard you practice a few times, but ahh...well, would you mind playing something for me?"

Rogue glanced at him, and then at her guitar. She hesitated and then shrugged.

"I guess I could do that," she said. "Anything you want me to play?"

Gambit shrugged as Rogue opened up the case and pulled out her guitar. "Anything you want to serenade me with."

Rogue snorted. She tested the strings, and while she tuned them, she contemplated which song to sing. She strummed experimentally, and finally decided on Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. She felt the opening verses were appropriate:

_"And I'd give up forever to touch you,  
>Cause I know that you feel me somehow,<br>You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be,  
>And I don't want to go home right now,<em>

_And all I can taste is this moment,  
>And all I can breathe is your life,<br>Cause sooner or later it's over,  
>I just don't want to miss you tonight..."<em>

Lance had been packing up his things in the bathroom when Gambit arrived, and opted to stay in there so they could have some privacy. Upon hearing Rogue sing, he gave into curiosity and poked his head out the door. He wasn't the only one who had that idea. X-23, who was in the room next door, along with Wanda, Toad, Kurt and Amanda, who had all been in the area to say their goodbyes, all heard her and decided to stick their heads in to watch and listen.

It was only as the final notes died away that Rogue became aware of her audience. It was hard to miss them, as they all erupted into applause. Rogue blushed and hid her embarrassment by putting her guitar away.

"That was great," Kurt said. "Hey, you should have played something earlier. We could have made a night out of it."

"If you and Lance survive elimination tonight, we still can," Amanda said, grinning at Rogue.

"Oh shush," Rogue replied, with a dismissing wave of her hand as she crouched over her guitar.

Gambit caught her hand, and she looked at him as he drew her back up.

"That was beautiful, Roguey," he said, wrapping his arms around her and looking deeply into her eyes. "Merci."

Rogue chewed her bottom lip, and then smiled shyly back at him. "You're welcome, sugah."

* * *

><p>All too soon, Lance, Rogue, Gambit and X-23 walked down the stairs to the elimination room, dressed in their finest. Lance and Gambit opened up the doors, and Rogue and X-23 walk through. Lance and Gambit followed and closed the doors behind them. Everyone stood in their positions and looked at Spyke.<p>

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "welcome to the elimination room. Rogue, Lance, this is your second time here."

"Yep," Lance replied with a nod.

"Remy, Laura," Spyke said. "This is your first time. Congratulations on lasting so long without going in."

"Merci," Gambit said.

"Here's how it works..."

Spyke explain the rules as usual. The Beauties were up first, so Spyke told Rogue and X-23 to wait in the viewing room.

"Beauties, your questions will be on modern history," he said. "Remy, which number would you like?"

"One, please," Gambit replied.

Spyke picked up and read out the question, which Gambit got correct. He got his second question right too, something he was rather pleased about. Lance, on the other hand, only got one of his questions right.

Rogue and X-23 swapped places with their Beauties. They both got their first questions correct.

"The score is now three to two," said Spyke. "Laura, if you get this next question right, then you and Remy win, and get to be part of the final three. Which number would you like?"

"Two," Laura replied.

"Two," Spyke repeated as he picked up the card. "Which fashion designer is famous for specialising in clothes for fliers?"

As X-23 considered the answer, Rogue wished that had been her question. She had known the answer well before coming here: Carol was a huge fan.

"Monet St Croix," X-23 said finally.

"That is correct," Spyke said and Rogue let out the breath she hadn't realised she had been holding.

Gambit and Lance were called back to the elimination room, and they stood by their partners.

"Rogue, Lance," Spyke said. "It's been a pleasure having you with us."

"It's been a pleasure being here," Rogue replied.

Spyke gave her a nod. "Unfortunately, I do have to ask you to leave. Good luck to you both."

Rogue gave X-23 a hug and Gambit reached out his hand to Lance. It was only then that Lance realised that Gambit was wearing gloves. Lance then gave X-23 a quick hug goodbye. Gambit, on the other hand, drew Rogue into his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Miss me already, huh?" she teased him as she pulled away slightly, keeping her hands on his sides.

Gambit lifted his gloved hands and cupped her face. "Yeah."

"Congratulations," she said. "And good luck, sugah."

"Merci," he said, and Rogue started to move to the door, but he caught her hand. "Roguey..."

"Yeah?"

He paused for a just a moment, then closed the distance between them. Their faces were only an inch apart.

"Since you're eliminated, you can't be disqualified any more," he said.

It didn't take Rogue long to realise what he meant by that. She started to say "No! Don't!" but all that came out was "N—" before his lips grazed against hers. Rogue pulled back immediately, but the damage was done. Gambit slumped forward, and his head slid down her torso to her stomach as his legs collapsed beneath him. Rogue gasped lightly as a handful of memories and thoughts from Gambit brushed over her mind and her green and white eyes changed to red and black. Lance swore behind her.

"You little idiot," Rogue said, kneeling down, and catching Gambit's upper body.

Gambit groaned and rubbed his head. "Worth it."

"Liar," Rogue said, glaring at him. "There is no way that pathetic excuse for a kiss is at all worth the pounding headache I know you have now."

"Will he be all right?" X-23 inquired.

"Nothing a good night's sleep won't cure," Rogue replied, giving X-23 a nod. "Do me a favour and try to knock some sense into him."

X-23 gave a brisk nod, although she had no idea how she was supposed to do that.

Rogue lifted her hand to rub Gambit's cheek. "I have to go. I'll see you later."

"See you," Gambit replied groggily.

"Wait, just a moment," Spyke said as Rogue stood, with his hand to his ear piece. "They're just deciding whether Remy should be disqualified or not, in which case, Lance, you'll be staying in the game as Laura's new partner."

"What, why?" Rogue demanded. "He gains nothing from being absorbed by me."

"You can't control your abilities, Rogue," Spyke replied patiently. "That counts as assault."

"Huh," Gambit murmured, more to himself than anyone else. "Guess it does."

"I won't press charges," Rogue insisted, and then looked wildly around the room for the microphones she knew were in there. "You hear me? I won't press charges."

There was a pause and then Spyke said: "They heard you."

The wait felt strained and drawn out, and much longer than the two minutes it actually was.

"Okay," Spyke said. "They've decided that Remy can stay."

"So close," Lance said, only half joking. He gave X-23 and Gambit a final nod. "Good luck guys."

Rogue said good bye once more, and she and Lance left the elimination room.

Gambit needed another minute before he could stand up, then Spyke formally congratulated them and sent them upstairs. X-23 kept a supporting arm out for Gambit, although he didn't end up needing it, and opened the bedroom door.

Wanda, Toad, Kurt and Amanda greeted them enthusiastically, as they stepped into the bedroom, but it didn't take them long to realise something happened.

"Remy kissed Rogue," X-23 reported, standing at ease.

"I still say it was worth it," Gambit said, collapsing on the bed.

"Oh man," said Kurt. "Are you all right?"

"Rogue said it was nothing a good night's sleep wouldn't cure," X-23 said, frowned and then added. "She asked me to try and knock some sense into him. I am not sure how to do that."

"She meant you should try to convince him not to do something that stupid again," Wanda said, smirking slightly. "I don't think we'll have much success though. Someone's in lo-ove."

"I am not," Gambit objected groggily with his eyes closed.

"Someone is also in denial," Amanda said with a giggle.

"I'm not in love," Gambit insisted. "It's just...extreme like."

Kurt laughed.

"If that's what you do when you 'extremely like' someone, I don't want to know what you would do when you love someone," Kurt said. "Come on, sleepyhead. I'll get you to bed."

Kurt placed his hands on Gambit, and a moment later they teleported from the room.

* * *

><p>"Well," Lance said, sitting down in front of the cameras outside, "this was certainly an experience, and it definitely didn't go anything like I was expecting."<p>

"I can attest to that," Rogue said, her eyes now back to normal. "It's a shame it's over though. You and I were really starting to make some progress."

"Yeah, we were. Maybe if we had tried harder earlier, we'd still be in there now," Lance said.

Rogue shrugged. "Well, we didn't. But this has been a pretty good experience. I actually made friends while I was here. Actual friends, who want to see me again. That's a novelty."

"I learned that I know more, and I'm smarter than I think I am," said Lance. "Man...this is starting to sound like some sappy Hallmark movie."

"I noticed that myself."


	9. Episode 8

**Episode 8**

X-23, Wanda, Toad, Amanda and Kurt all looked up as Gambit entered the dining room the next morning for breakfast.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Kurt said as soon as he saw him.

Gambit gave Kurt a two-fingered salute and sat down. "Morning."

"How's the head?" Wanda asked.

"Fine actually," Gambit replied with a shrug.

"Why would you do that?" Toad asked while munching on a croissant. "You had to know it was going to end badly."

"Depends on your definition of 'badly', mon ami," Gambit replied with a half shrug as he reached for the last croissant. "Roguey thinks that being absorbed will scare me off wanting to date her. See, now we've gotten that part of out of the way, so when we meet again, she'll know I don't think that her mutation is much of a deterrent, and we can actually have a relationship without her being paranoid that I'm going to leave her if there's an accident."

He just wished that there was something he'd be able to do about his jealous streak. He would sure like to have a relationship with Rogue without getting anxious any time he saw her with another man.

"You sneaky devil," Amanda said with a smirk.

"Wouldn't it have been better to wait?" Wanda asked.

"Right," Gambit said scornfully. "And give her time away from me to think things over and talk herself out of dating me? I don't think so."

"You never know," Wanda teased him, "she might be doing that right now. She might have decided that you're too reckless and she'd be doing you a favour by not dating you."

"That's mean, Wanda," Kurt said all the while grinning at the look of horror on Gambit's face. "And even if Rogue is second-guessing your relationship, I'm sure you'll have no problems getting her to reconsider, umm, again.

* * *

><p>Later, X-23 tracked Gambit down in their bedroom. He was standing at the window.<p>

"We never discussed the last challenges," X-23 informed him.

"You're right, we didn't," Gambit said, turning to face her. "What did you want to talk about?"

X-23 sat down on her bed. "Emma Frost said I had no soul."

"No,' Gambit corrected, sitting down beside her. "She said your photographs have no soul. And there are two things to bear in mind here: One, professional photography is considered an artwork, so there's always going to be a certain amount of criticism involving the emotional impact of the piece. The second thing is that Emma Frost is clearly a bitch who doesn't like to compliment people and probably enjoys making people like you feel bad. Do not take her opinions of you or your work to heart. It's not like she's important to you, or someone you care about."

X-23 was silent as she considered this.

"Do you think I have no soul?" she asked finally.

"Of course you have a soul, chère," Gambit insisted, taking her hand and trying to make eye contact with her. "You care and love and feel, don't you? I know you feel. You might hurt yourself when you don't understand what you're feeling, but you still feel."

There was another silence, and then: "I have killed."

"You've been in the military," Gambit replied gently. "I assumed that was the case."

"Someone once called me a 'soulless killing machine'," X-23 said plaintively.

"Worried they might be right?"

X-23 didn't reply. Gambit took that as a yes.

"I don't think they are. Look, I don't know how things got this way with you. I don't know much about your life before now," Gambit said seriously. "I do know this much; you have a soul. You have a soul, and maybe others have tried to deny you that soul, but they can't. Only you have that authority and not even the greatest thief in the world can take it from you."

X-23 remained silent and Gambit wrapped his arm around her.

"And you want to know something else, chère? Soul searching is a normal thing to do. I don't believe that there's a single person in the world who doesn't look a themselves at least once in their life and questions who they really are," he said. "You keep on looking, Laura. You keep on looking."

* * *

><p>Wanda and Kurt sat in the hot tub.<p>

"I can't believe this is almost over," said Kurt. "I know it's been awhile, but it feels like we only got here."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Wanda replied. "Do you supposed we'll see each other again, after all this? For real, I mean, not lip service."

Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. I know I'd like to, but we're all so spread out."

"Yeah."

* * *

><p>The following day, the housemates gathered in the study. There were no clues waiting for them on the desk, so no one had any idea what was coming when Spyke entered.<p>

"Good morning," he said. "Congratulations on being the final three."

"Thanks."

"Well, I hope you guys are ready, because today is your final challenge," Spyke told them. "Outside are three hummers, one for each team. Inside each hummer is a book of clues, and a laptop with internet access. You will have to use the book of clues to locate..."

Everyone looked at Spyke as he deliberately drew out the silence.

"Your former housemates."

"Omigod!"

"Wow, really?"

"Yes!"

"You will have to locate four of your former housemates," Spyke continued, grinning at their reactions, "and return to the mansion. The first two teams to return will be our final two. The third team back will, unfortunately, be eliminated."

The housemates looked apprehensively at each other.

"Are you ready?" Spyke asked.

The housemates got to their feet quickly.

"Get set... Go!"

While Gambit, X-23, Wanda and Toad bolted for the nearest outside door, Kurt grabbed Amanda's hand and teleported them both outside. They took a moment to spot the hummers, and ran for the one closest to the gates. Amanda threw open the door, they clambered inside quickly, and Kurt shut the door. Amanda grabbed up the laptop and sat it on her lap while Kurt picked up the book of clues and look at it quickly.

"Okay," he said as the hummer started to move down the driveway, "they have little verses, and some of the words are in capitals. I think we should try looking up those words in capitals."

"Right," Amanda said, "what's the first one?"

Kurt read it out, and Amanda opened up the web browser (the laptop was already on when she got in), and plugged in the words into Google. A listing for a ballet school came up, and Amanda checked the address.

"That'll be Kitty," Amanda said, and read out the address to the driver.

x-x-x

Wanda and Toad pulled up near the museum of art. They hurried out of the the hummer and into the museum. To their delight, Piotr was standing by the front desk.

"Pete!" Toad yelled.

Piotr grinned as the two raced up to them. Wanda touched his arm, officially tagging him, and Toad put the 'Beauty and the Geek' marker down on the desk for the benefit of any of the other teams, should they come after them.

"And now to run all the way back," said Wanda.

x-x-x

"Okay," Gambit said after piling back into the hummer with Rahne after picking her up outside the veterinary hospital, "I think I've figured out which clue is Rogue."

X-23 sat the laptop on her lap and put her hands on the keyboard. "Proceed."

x-x-x

"Okay," Amanda said, looking out at the beach. "Somewhere, between one of these sets of flags, is one of our friends."

"Yep," Kurt said. "Pity I can't go by myself and teleport the whole way. Be faster."

"We'll just have to run really fast," Amanda said.

x-x-x

Pyro was in the bookstore when he heard a familiar voice call his name.

"Hey Wanda, Toad," he said and Wanda kissed his cheek.

"I knew it," she said. "I knew you'd be here. Come on."

Toad dropped the marker, and Wanda dragged Pyro back out to their hummer.

x-x-x

"You're not Rogue," Gambit said when they arrived at the airport.

"No, that's true," Scott replied. "I'm not."

"Rats, I forgot you were a pilot too," Gambit muttered. "Oh well."

X-23 put down the marker, and then looked up at the men. "We must go."

x-x-x

"Jean!" Kurt yelled, almost pouncing on her as soon as he spotted her.

Jean laughed. "Hey guys."

"Phew!" Amanda said as she caught up. "Come on, we have a long run back."

Kurt put down the marker, and they took off.

x-x-x

Jubilee climbed into the hummer and grinned when she spotted Piotr and Pyro.

"Hey guys," she said, sitting down next to them as Wanda and Toad followed her.

"Hey," Pyro replied. "Long time, no see."

"Yeah, _really_ long time no see," Jubilee replied with a laugh. "Wow, you two look great."

"We both got makeovers," Piotr said.

"Cool."

x-x-x

Gambit was so sure that when the next clue lead them to a clothes shop in one of the many shopping centres of the city that they were going to be picking up Tabitha. Imagine his delight when he found Rogue instead.

"Roguey!" Gambit exclaimed when they arrived at the airport.

Rogue grinned at him as he swept her up in his arms and hugged her tight.

"Hug later," X-23 said.

x-x-x

Kurt and Amanda raced into the game shop and found Fred idly looking through the PC games.

"Fred!" Kurt called.

"Hey guys," Fred replied.

Amanda raced over and tagged him while Kurt put the marker down.

x-x-x

Wanda frowned as she looked around the clothes shop.

"Dammit," said Toad, gesturing to the counter. "Wanda, we're too late."

"What? Oh crap," Wanda said, glaring at the Beauty and the Geek marker.

Without another word, the pair raced back out of the store, and back to their hummer.

x-x-x

When Gambit and X-23 arrived at the comic book shop, they could see Amanda and Kurt not far away. That was all the motivation they needed to run to the doors and get inside.

"Bobby, hey," Gambit said, running over to Bobby where he was leaning against the counter and touching his arm. "Let's go."

X-23 placed the marker on the counter, and they hurried out of the store, almost colliding with Kurt and Amanda.

"Okay, well," said Kurt. "I guess we'll just go elsewhere."

"You snooze you lose, mon ami," Gambit replied with a wave as he walked backwards to the hummer.

"Well, you'd know all about snoozing!"

x-x-x

"I can't believe that for once in my life, I'm actually happy to see you," Wanda said disgustedly as her eyes fell in Pietro outside of the ice skating rink.

"Miracles do happen, sis," Pietro replied.

"Sis?" Toad repeated.

"Nevermind that," Wanda said, touching Pietro's arm. "You're our fourth. We need to get back to the mansion now."

Toad dropped the marker and they took off.

x-x-x

Kurt and Amanda found Lance at one of the local bars. Lance skulled down the rest of his drink, Amanda left the marker on the bar, and they hurried back to the hummer.

The pair were quite relieved once they were on their way back to the mansion. Now, if only they could beat the other teams back.

x-x-x

"Oooh," Wanda said, looking out the window. "There's another hummer ahead of us."

"Damn. Can you see the other one?" Toad said, checking the other windows.

"Nope."

x-x-x

"There's another hummer behind us," X-23 reported.

"That's nice for them," Gambit replied, far too interested in playing with Rogue's arm to care.

"So," Rahne said, eyeing them off. "I'm guessing something happened between you after I left?"

"You might say that," Rogue replied dryly. "You know, Remy, I am going to need that arm later."

x-x-x

"We're almost there!" Kurt said happily. "I can see the mansion."

Amanda cross her fingers. "Please, please, please."

x-x-x

The first hummer pulled into the driveway. It stopped out the front, the doors opened, and the six passengers inside stepped out. They stood before Spyke, who was waiting patiently on the doorstep. The driver drove the hummer out of view.

"Congratulations," said Spyke. "You're the first to return and are now part of the final two."

"Yes!" Gambit cheered.

He hugged X-23, and then turned and hugged Rogue tightly. Rahne, Scott and Bobby all congratulated them.

x-x-x

Wanda and Toad stepped onto the driveway from the hummer and stood before Spyke. Piotr, Pyro, Jubilee and Pietro stood in a line behind them.

"Wanda and Toad," said Spyke. "Congratulations, you're the second to return to the mansion, and now part of the final two."

Wanda and Toad cheered, and their friend celebrated with them.

x-x-x

Finally, Kurt and Amanda arrived at the mansion. They couldn't see any of the other hummers and were hopeful as they piled out with their friends.

"Kurt and Amanda," Spyke said, feeling a little bad about what he had to say next to their hopeful faces. "You are the third to return to the mansion."

Kurt and Amanda's faces fell.

"I'm sorry, but your team is now eliminated."

Kitty, Jean, Fred and Lance gathered around and consoled their disappointed friends.

* * *

><p>The last two former housemates, Amara and Tabitha, arrived not long after, and everyone gathered outside for a pool party reunion. Those who had left before the Geek makeover were certain to tell Piotr, X-23, Kurt, Pyro, Rogue and especially Toad, how good they looked now.<p>

Rahne sniffed at Toad.

"What?" he asked.

"Is that Remy's deodorant you're wearing?" she asked.

"Uhh, yeah... he gave me some," Toad replied.

Rahne nodded. "That was nice of him. It's an improvement, by the way."

"Good to know that your olfactory senses are no longer offended by my presence," Toad said dryly.

"My olfactory senses are very sensitive," Rahne said.

"What's 'olfactory'?" asked Jubilee.

"Smell."

"Oh. Why don't you just say that?"

"Because 'olfactory' is fun to say."

"Okay then."

Tabitha approached Gambit and Rogue, who were holding drinks in one hand, and holding the other's hand with the second.

"So, it's true then?" she asked, slinging one arm over Gambit's shoulders. "You two are a couple?"

"Umm, I guess so," Rogue replied, feeling awkward.

"You guess so," Amanda said, hearing this and turning around to give Rogue a disgusted look. "You serenaded him and he kissed you!"

"He kissed her?" Tabitha asked.

"On the lips," Amanda said with a nod. "She absorbed him."

Tabitha gasped. "No!"

Rogue chewed her bottom lip as the exchanged started to get way more attention that she was comfortable with. Gambit chuckled lightly at the expression on her face.

"And her eyes changed colour," Lance piped up. "She got his eyes."

"Wow really?" Tabitha asked, darting a look at Rogue.

"It part of his mutation," Rogue replied awkwardly. "That's what I do."

"I still say it was worth it," Gambit said lifting his glass.

"That's because you're crazy," Rogue informed him.

"Crazy for you, ma chère. Crazy for you."

"Awww," Tabitha said, clasping her hands.

"Is so sweet, huh?" Kitty said, grinning.

"Absolutely. I want one."

Pietro sat down next to X-23 in the hot tub.

"So, Laura," he said. "How's things?"

"Things are good," she replied.

"I see that Remy and Rogue got close," Pietor said, eyeing off the other group before giving X-23 a nudge. "No accounting for tastes."

"Remy didn't neglect you while he was off romancing the untouchable woman, was he?" Scott asked X-23 curiously.

"Didn't look like it to me," Jean put in.

"Remy was a good team mate," X-23 replied with a firm nod.

"Cool, cool," said Pietro, and he moved in all so closer to her. "So, any romances for you?"

X-23 looked at him, seemed to think about it for a moment, and finally said: "There is a boy back home that I...like."

"What about—" Pietro began.

"Quiet Pietro," Jean cut in. "You never had a chance."

Scott chuckled.

"Hmph," Pietro said with a pout. "How would you know?"

"Telepath, remember?" Jean said smugly. "I can't get disqualified any more so I can read any thoughts I want."

"Without breaching privacy laws, you mean," Scott said.

"Yeah, yeah," Jean replied with a wave of her hand. "Not that it matters. The heads I really want to look at have shields."

"Oh yeah?" Scott asked curiously.

"Mmmhmm," Jean said with a nod, "Remy's got some sort of static, and Rogue's got that many different thought patterns coming from her mind, I'm afraid to go anywhere near it. I have no idea how that girl can think."

"Why would Rogue have multiple thought patterns?" Scott asked.

"Obviously she absorbs minds as well as powers," Jean said as if this was blatantly obvious.

Near the buffet table Jubilee stared at Piotr as if he had grown a second head. He caught the look and immediately felt uncomfortable.

"Is something wrong?" he asked tentatively.

"I'm just shocked that you're talking to me," Jubilee replied. "The day we met, you couldn't even look at any of us Beauties."

Piotr scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed.

"Well," he said. "Kitty helped me deal with that."

"That's good. I'm happy for you," Jubilee said with a warm smile.

Wanda laughed as Pyro created a flock of flame birds and made them swoop over the pool. Kurt, Lance and Amara, who were in the pool, were not impressed.

"And that," said Pyro, "is the closest you're getting to get me in the water."

Fred looked forlornly towards Jean flirting with Scott. Bobby noticed his gaze and patted his back.

"It could be worse," he said.

"How?" Fred asked.

"Uhh..."

* * *

><p>Although the party went for quite a few hours and everyone had a chance to talk to everyone else, it seem too soon that Wanda, Toad, Gambit and X-23 were told to get ready for the elimination. They said their farewells, and received 'good luck's, and departed. They changed into formal wear and finally made their way down into the elimination room.<p>

"The final two," Spyke said when all was ready. "Congratulations on making it this far."

A chorus of 'thank you' answered him.

"I'm sure you're all eager to find out how this final elimination is going to work," Spyke said. "Well, this season, it won't be ending in here. This show is about change, about becoming greater than the labels of 'Beauty' and 'Geek', and who better to judge which team has changed the most, than the very people you were changing alongside."

The final teams regarded each other and Spyke curiously, and not without some anxiety.

"Wanda and Toad, Remy and Laura," Spyke said, and gestured to the TV. "Meet your judges."

The Beauty and the Geek logo on the TV changed and revealed all their former housemates, including Kurt and Amanda, sitting in the lounge room. As their housemates waved, Gambit, Wanda and Toad laughed and cried out in shock. X-23 just stood there, apparently not especially concerned one way or another.

"Each of your former housemates will have a single vote," Spyke went on. "In one hour they will cast those votes, and pick the team they think has changed the most."

Wanda had a sinking feeling. She knew she had alienated a couple of people; Amara in particular came to mind, to say nothing of her twin brother Pietro, with whom she had long been estranged. She was not looking forward to this.

"Good luck."

* * *

><p>An hour of anxious waiting later, Gambit, X-23, Wanda and Toad were directed to stand on the bottom stair. Gambit and X-23 stood to the left, and Wanda and Toad stood to the right, leaving an aisle between them. Spyke took a minute to reiterate what was happening, and add that the first team with nine votes would win the $250,000 dollar prize money. Finally, Spyke called in the first team to cast their votes:<p>

"Amanda and Kurt."

Amanda and Kurt walked in from the lounge room. They stood beside Spyke in front of the two remaining teams.

"It has been a pleasure getting to know both of you," said Kurt. "This has been another hard decision to make, and there's been very little time to make it in. I think that the only people who can truly gauge how much you've changed from this experience is yourself, and God, so I have been spending much of the last hour praying for His guidance. Toad, there is no denying how much you've changed since you've been here; your appearance is just the obvious part. I can tell you've become more confident too. Wanda, I'll be honest, for awhile there I wasn't sure I was going to like you very much. You've actually turned out to be a pretty great person, and I've enjoyed getting to know you. Remy, you've been nice to everyone from the very beginning, with few exceptions, but I've had a hard time trying to figure out how much you've changed, if at all. Laura, you are a very quiet person, and I feel like I never got to know you as well as I would have liked. Ironically, you're a lot more outspoken than you were the day we met. I suspect that the changes you've gone through while you were here are far greater than any of us will ever know."

Kurt cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"As I said, it was a hard decision, but I am casting my vote with Wanda and Toad."

And on those words, Kurt stepped forward and stood behind Wanda and Toad on the stairs.

"Amanda," Spyke prompted.

Amanda chose to vote for Wanda and Toad as well, then Spyke called in Lance and Rogue. Lance also cast his vote with Wanda and Toad, then attention turned to Rogue. Wanda was certain that she would vote for Gambit and X-23.

"Toad," Rogue said, with a smile for him. "I'm sticking with my Prince Toad comment from earlier."

Toad chuckled.

"And Wanda, I'm really glad that you've discovered just how smart you really are," Rogue went on, then looked at Gambit and X-23. "Laura, there is no doubt in my mind that you've changed while you were here. For you, I think this was another step—a large one—in a long journey for you. I think that Remy was significant in that change. I know he helped me a lot too."

Gambit smiled at her.

"But the question we've been asked to vote on is 'which team has changed the most'," Rogue went on. "And Remy, as much as I like you, I suspect you've hardly changed at all."

Gambit froze. Of course, she was a mind reader. She would know that he had just been playing everyone this whole time.

"And that's why I'm casting my vote with Wanda and Toad."

Gambit gave a slight nod and looked down as Rogue walked past him up the stairs to stand with the others behind Wanda and Toad.

"Amara and Pyro."

After giving their own little speeches like the other before them, Amara voted for Gambit and X-23, and Pyro voted for Wanda and Toad.

"The score is now five to one," Spyke announced. "Kitty and Piotr."

"This was like, such a hard decision to make," Kitty said. "You're all such wonderful people and I think all of you have changed, some more noticeably than others. But in the end, the one who decided this for me, was Remy."

Gambit stifled a sigh, expecting the worse. Nevertheless, he kept his eyes trained on Kitty as she continued to speak:

"I wasn't entirely sure about you to begin with," she said. "You seemed arrogant and tactless, and there were times when I thought you were only being nice because you thought there was something in it for you. I don't know, maybe you were. But I saw you with Laura, and I _know_ a lot of the changes we see in her, subtle though they might be, are thanks to you. In fact there was one night, umm, the night of the speed-dating actually. I had woken up in the middle of the night and I happened to go past your door and, umm, hear something of what you guys were talking about. I haven't mentioned it before now, because that wasn't a conversation I should had listened to, and it's certainly not my place to blab what was being said. I don't know, maybe in light of this voting I should have said something, but...I didn't feel right about it."

Kitty took a breath.

"Anyway! So I know you helped Laura heaps," she said. "The other thing is a change that I don't think anyone here was expecting; you fell in love."

Gambit cleared his throat uncomfortably and Kitty grinned at him.

"Kurt told us all about the 'extreme like' story," she said with a little giggle. "Love always changes people. Always. I'm certain that what you're feeling for Rogue is the real thing, and playboy that you are, I'm sure that 'extreme liking' someone is a huge deal for you. So yeah, my vote goes to Remy and Laura."

Kitty grinned at Gambit as she walked up the stairs to stand behind them.

"Piotr," Spyke prompted.

"As Kitty said, this was a hard decision to make. I believe that all things change us, some more obviously than others. Some change is for good, some for ill, and some is neither," Piotr said. "Since I could not choose between you, I thought about what had helped me the most in changing for the better, and that was my partner, Kitty."

Kitty smiled back at Piotr as he looked at her fondly.

"I never would have gotten as far as I did without her support, patience, and encouragement," Piotr said, giving Kitty a quick nod. "Therefore, my vote goes to the team I felt was the most supportive of the other with the feeling that this is also the team that changed the most in a positive way. Remy and Laura."

"The score is now five to three, in favour of Wanda and Toad," said Spyke as Piotr joined Kitty on the stairs. "Jean and Fred."

Jean and Fred entered the room. Without much of a speech, Fred cast his vote with Wanda and Toad.

"There are certain advantages in being a telepath," Jean said, "advantages that don't involve the intentional breach of privacy, but they do allow me to see just that little bit more of the changes that have occurred within you. Well, except for Remy. I can't read you at all."

Gambit grinned at her.

"I want to tell you that the general overlay of thoughts from Toad and Laura in particular," Jean went on, "are definitely different. Wanda, yours is too, but not as much. I decided to pick the team which had the biggest turnaround as far as I could tell. Remy and Laura."

Jean walked up the said and joined the line behind Gambit and X-23.

"Tabitha and Scott."

"Okay so I was having a really hard time deciding, so I decided to pick the team who physically changed the most," Tabitha said. "And yes, I know that's a totally shallow reason to base my decision on, but I clearly didn't change as much as you guys, otherwise Scott and I would be up there." She laughed to herself. "Anyway, my vote goes to...Wanda and Toad. Sorry Remy. I know you're totally hot, but you've always been hot."

Gambit chuckled lightly as Tabitha joined the line behind Wanda and Toad.

"I don't feel like I spent enough time with you at the party to make a complete assessment," said Scott. "But one of the things that striked me was talking to Laura. I don't recall even having a conversation with Laura before. I remember being in the same room with her, but that is about it. What's more, she even admitted there was a boy back home that she liked. Don't be offended, Laura, but the few times I heard you speak in the past, it was all very, matter-of-fact and impersonal. So my vote goes to Laura and Remy."

"The vote is now seven to five," Spyke said as Scott made his way up the stairs. "Wanda and Toad need two more votes to win. Remy and Laura need four more. Next, Pietro and Rahne."

Pietro and Rahne entered, and Wanda wrote both of them off straight away. There was only animosity between them. In her mind, the vote would come down to Jubilee and Bobby, and she had no idea which way they would slide.

"There is no doubt in my mind which team has changed the most," said Rahne. "Wanda and Toad."

Wanda stared at Rahne in surprise as the young woman joined the line of friends standing behind herself and Toad on the stairs. Spyke turned to Pietro expectantly, and Pietro took a deep breath.

"I think it's hard to figure out who changed the most if you didn't know them well enough to begin with," Pietro said. "Which is why I'm voting for...Wanda and Toad."

Toad cheered beside Wanda while she gaped at her twin brother in complete shock. He actually sided with her? Really? Pietro grinned at her.

"That's nine votes for Wanda and Toad," Spyke announced, and grinned at the pair. "Congratulations, you've just won $250,000!"

Pietro gave Wanda two thumbs up as Toad gave her a hug and everyone behind them cheered.

"You are now more than just a Beauty or a Geek," Spyke said.

As soon as they were free to do so, Gambit turned to face Wanda and Toad, and held out his hand.

"Congratulations," he said. "You deserve it."

Wanda ignored his hand and gave him a hug instead.

"Thanks, Remy," she said, and then gave X-23 a hug as well.

Gambit glanced over at Rogue. She didn't seem to notice him and that was the thing that was bothering him. He didn't care about not winning The Game, he had only ever been interested in winning His Game, only now he wasn't sure what that was supposed to be anymore.

Rogue caught his eyes and she came down the stairs to properly congratulate Wanda and Toad. He looked so lost and forlorn that she couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for him. She reached out and squeezed his hand.

"We'll talk later," she promised him.

Gambit gave her a weak smile. "I'll hold you to it."

"I'm sure of that," Rogue replied, and turned her attention back to Wanda and Toad.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Two more chapters to go.


	10. Interval

**Interval**

Carol snatched up the ringing phone.

"Hello?" she said, leaning on the kitchen bench as she answered it.

"Rogue?" inquired the male voice on the other end.

"No, this is Carol," Carol replied, her eyes glancing at her housemate, who was reading a book and drinking coffee at the dining table. "Who's this?"

"Remy," Gambit said. "It's a pleasure to talk to you, Carol. Rogue's told me all about you."

"Oh reeeeallly?" Carol asked, grinning mischievously at Rogue. "That's funny, 'cause Rogue hasn't mentioned you at all."

Rogue looked up from her book at the sound of her name.

"Oh," Gambit said, and tried not to sound disappointed. Great, he had fallen so beneath Rogue's good opinion that she didn't even consider him worth discussing with her best friend.

"So, you're just going to have to fill in the blanks for me," Carol went on.

"Who's on the phone?" Rogue asked.

"Are you someone she met during the _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ thing?" Carol asked.

"Oui," Gambit replied, hesitated, and then decided that if there was even the slightest chance he might still be able to get together with Rogue, it was through Carol. "Of course, I can't say too much about what happened, secrecy agreements and all that, but I can say that I thought Rogue was the single most attractive woman in the mansion."

"Awww," Carol said, still grinning.

"Carol—" Rogue said tersely.

"She was even more beautiful than the Beauties," Gambit went on, "and that was before the makeover episode."

"Charmer," Carol said.

"It's Remy, isn't it?" Rogue demanded.

"She pushed me away, of course," Gambit went on.

"Oh, she always does that," Carol replied as Rogue stood up.

"Give me the phone," Rogue said, holding out her hand.

"But I kept trying anyway," Gambit went on. "And then the little minx stole my heart."

"Awww," Carol said while playing a determined game of 'keep away' with Rogue, made all the more fun as both women could fly.

"She serenaded me too," Gambit went on. "And well, obviously, she gave me her number, so I figured she must like me back at least a little. Plus, she did agree to go on date with me—"

"Oh did she now?" Carol asked gleefully. "Hey Rogue."

"Give me the—" Rogue started.

"Did you agree to go on a date with Remy?"

Rogue glared at her and reached for the phone again. Her feet scraped against the ceiling in the process and Carol ducked out of the way.

"Oh you did!" Carol exclaimed. "Well, well, well, we can't have you backing out on Remy,"

"I wasn't going to—" Rogue began.

"I was actually going to be in New York next week," Gambit said, sensing he did indeed have an ally in Carol. "I was calling to find out if there was a chance Rogue and I could hook up while I was in town?"

"Oh there's definitely a chance," Carol said, and then thrust the phone out to Rogue. "All yours."

Rogue snatched the phone away and glared at Carol. Carol chuckled wickedly and left the room to give them some privacy.

"Hi Remy," Rogue said tersely, floating down to a sitting position on the bench.

"Hi Roguey," Gambit said, sounding amused. "So, that was Carol."

"Yeah, that was Carol."

"Look, ahh, I'm going to be in New York next week. I'm going to be there for a while, actually, and I was hoping you and I could meet up? Maybe go on that date," Gambit said.

Rogue sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Yeah, okay," she said.

"You don't sound very happy about it. See something in my head you didn't like?"

"Well there's a stupid question," Rogue replied scornfully. "I always see things in people's heads I don't like. Always. There's no such thing as a perfect person. We all do crappy stuff. The real difference is our attitude. I would much rather deal with say, a klepto who knows he's doing the wrong thing and wants to stop, than with a chronic liar who insists he only tells 'little white lies' and doesn't believe there's anything wrong with that."

Gambit was silent for a moment, and then said: "Well, you said we'd talk later, but we never ended up talking. I can't help but think you're giving me the cold shoulder."

"The break up party was only two days ago, Remy," Rogue said irritably. "I couldn't find a way to pull you aside discreetly. Not with everyone and their cousin insisting that you're in love with me. This was not a conversation I wanted to have then. This isn't even a conversation we should be having over the phone. I like you, Remy, but this is confusing for me too."

"Never told Carol about me."

"Remy, are you pouting?"

"You can see that over the phone? Wow, you really are smart."

"Dork."

* * *

><p>Arcade looked around the lab with his hands on his hips and a glare on his face. There were two other people in the lab; the android, Vision, and some new guy Arcade hadn't seen before.<p>

"Where is that Toad?" he demanded. "He was supposed to be back today. And who's this new guy? I said no more interns—"

"Uhh," said the stranger. "I _am_ Toad."

Arcade gaped at him. "You... Toad? What the hell happened to you?"

Toad grinned at him.

"I had a complete makeover," Toad replied proudly. "And now the ladies are going to be falling at my feet."

"Even before they smell your breath?" Vision deadpanned.

Toad laughed.

* * *

><p>A little over a week later, Gambit arrived at a little cafe that he had arranged to meet Rogue at. He didn't see her at first, and for a moment he panicked that she had stood her up. Then the van moved and he saw Rogue walking towards him.<p>

"Roguey," he said, and immediately swept her up in his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Umm, hi," Rogue said, feeling a little awkward with her arms stuck between their chests. "Good to see you too."

"Missed you."

"I gathered," Rogue said, paused, and then asked: "Are you always this clingy?"

Gambit slowly let Rogue go. "No, I'm not actually. It's starting to worry me."

Rogue laughed and took his hand. They walked into the cafe and found a table. There was very little conversation until after they ordered their lunch.

"So as much as I'd hate to spoil good food with deep and possibly unpleasant conversation," said Gambit, "I think we should address the elephant in the room."

Rogue nodded. "Alright. Remy, you went into the _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ thing with the intention of manipulating everyone for your own personal entertainment—"

"Rogue—"

"—and I knew that even before I absorbed you."

Gambit blinked and stared at her. Rogue smiled wryly back at him.

"I'm not going to deny that absorbing you may have had some impact on my decision of who to vote for," she went on gently. "But let's be honest here, you didn't even care about winning the money. You were there for the fun of it. And because Mercy goaded you into it."

Gambit snickered.

"I think I like her, by the way," Rogue added. "I hope one day we get to meet."

"Oh?" Gambit inquired, tilting his head. "That would imply you want there to be an 'us'. Meeting family's a pretty big step."

"Me even considering thinking about seriously dating someone for the first time in five years is a pretty big step," Rogue replied. "Massive, even."

Gambit nodded thoughtfully, accepting that. "Is my career choice going to be a problem? I'm assuming you know..."

"Yeah, I know. But that's part of the whole Remy package," Rogue said, and Gambit grinned at her. "I don't know if it'll be a problem later, but it's not right now."

"Just like that, huh?"

"Remy, I'm usually on the receiving end of being rejected because of one part of who I am," Rogue said gently. "Not just romantic relationships, but of what might have been normal friendships too because I can't control my mutation. And we won't even go into all the bullying I was a victim of during school because of that. I might not necessarily agree with your career of choice, but I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to get to know you because of it."

Gambit smiled and took her hand in his.

"I'm glad," he said. "So, does this mean I can officially call you my girlfriend now?"

Rogue paused, then grinned and gave a little laugh.

"Sure," she said. "Why not?"

"Because Carol would nag you into changing your mind?" Gambit suggested cheekily.

"You've only spoken to her once and you already know her too well."

* * *

><p>A few days later—during which Rogue and Gambit had gone out on two more dates—Carol decided to throw a party. The party was mostly an excuse to meet Gambit as so far Rogue had been pretty good at putting off the inevitable meeting. Gambit was the first one to arrive.<p>

"Hey," Carol said when she opened up the door, "you must be Remy."

And much to the shock of both Rogue and Gambit, Carol planted a big, noisy, over-exaggerated kiss on his lips.

"Carol!" Rogue exclaimed.

Carol grinned at Rogue and hugged Gambit tight.

"I just wanted your boyfriend to know I really appreciate him," she said innocently. "Seriously, it's about time someone swept you off your feet, girl."

Carol let go of Gambit and let him step the whole way into the apartment.

"Shut up," Rogue said. "Meddler."

Carol chuckled and closed the apartment door as she looked Gambit over. "Hey, you're pretty hot. Were you a Beauty or a Geek?"

"A Beauty, actually," Gambit replied, snaring an arm around Rogue.

"Don't let him fool you," Rogue said, allowing him to pull her close. "He's smarter than he'll have you believe."

"Oh I don't doubt that," Carol said. "Most people do tend to look for their intellectual equivalent in a mate. I expected Remy to be smart."

"Hmph. Did you really have to kiss him?" Rogue asked as Carol walked over to the kitchen bench.

"Yes," Carol replied without skipping a beat. "But at least I didn't use tongue."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Rogue demanded.

"You mean it's not?" Carol asked cheekily, floating up into a sitting position on the kitchen bench.

"You can fly?" Gambit asked, frowning slightly.

"Yup," Carol replied, then flashed a curious look at Rogue. "You didn't tell him?"

"He knows I stripped you of your powers," Rogue said.

"I just didn't realise you got them back," Gambit said. "She mentioned how your mind needed to be transferred back after you woke up from the coma..."

"Oh yeah, I was powerless when I woke up," Carol said as she started filling bowls with chips and other party food. "They jump-started my powers."

Gambit nodded. Rogue cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"So do you ladies need a hand with anything?" Gambit asked.

"Nah, we're pretty much right," Rogue said. "Allow me to give you the grand tour."

By the time Rogue and Gambit returned for the 'grand' tour of their two-bedroom apartment, the first guests had arrived. At first Rogue tried to introduce Gambit to everyone, but it quickly became evident to Gambit that Carol had a lot of friends, and he suspected that Rogue wasn't quite as familiar with everyone as she would have liked.

Partway through the evening, Gambit left Rogue's side to visit the bathroom. When he returned, he found her in conversation with a tall, dark-haired man. Worse, appearing to _enjoy_ having the conversation with him. He bit the inside of his lip, clenched his fists and made a point of reminding himself that Rogue was allowed to have male friends. He also reminded himself that it had been made abundantly clear to him that he was the only guy she had even entertained the idea of dating in years.

Once Gambit felt like he had sufficiently curbed any jealous outbursts, he approached Rogue and the mystery man. Rogue smiled at him as soon as she saw him, and took his arm.

"And speak of the devil," Rogue said. "Mike, this is Remy. Remy, this is Michael, Carol's boyfriend."

"Pleasure to finally put a face to the name," Michael said, holding out his hand. "You're all Carol's been able to talk about for days."

"Really?" Gambit asked as he shook Michael's hand. "Those much have been really short conversations."

Michael laughed.

"So, did she kiss you?' Michael asked. "She was telling me she was thinking about it."

"Oui," Gambit said the same time Rogue exclaimed: "Wait, you knew about that?"

"She was excited for you," Michael replied, giving Rogue a grin, and then he nudged Gambit. "Word of warning, Rogue and Carol are close. Really, really close. Sometimes I think they don't even brush their teeth without telling the other about it."

Gambit chuckled.

"Not that I think you'll have any problems with this, but stay in good with Carol," Michael went on cheerfully. "Just like I stay in good with Rogue. We will not discuss what Rogue has done to Carol's ex-boyfriends."

"They deserved it," Rogue said seriously, but her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"I'm not going to argue," Michael replied.

"Smart move, Ace."

"Also, there will be double dating in our future."

Gambit nodded. "I think I can handle that."

"So, what is it that you do?" Michael asked Gambit.

"Whatever I feel like, really," Gambit replied with a shrug. "It usually leads me to playing poker in Vegas."

He gave Rogue a wink.

"He's a bit of a playboy," Rogue said dryly.

"Really," Michael drawled, sounding unimpressed and a little disappointed. "I'm air force."

"My commiserations," Gambit replied.

"Let's please not start comparing the value of your, umm, respective careers," Rogue said quickly. "Remember, Mike, Carol likes Remy."

"Okay, okay," Michael said, holding up his hands, and then eyeing Gambit skeptically. "Just tell me you're not dating Rogue just for the lark?"

"I'm not dating Rogue just for a lark," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"I really hope that's the truth for your sake if no one else's," Michael said seriously. "Carol went through a three-year coma after Rogue tried to commit suicide; she'd have no problems screwing you up into a little ball and—what?"

Rogue coughed uncomfortably under Gambit's horrified gaze.

"I kinda didn't tell him that part," Rogue said, avoiding everyone's eyes. "I feel that admitting I threw myself naked off the Golden Gate Bridge takes away from the whole 'dire warning, don't touch me' thing."

Michael cleared his throat. "Yeah, I guess it would. Umm... I'm going to go this way now."

Michael quickly made himself scarce. Gambit turned to face Rogue properly. He lifted his gloved hand and brushed her cheek, encouraging her to actually look at him.

"Roguey?" he asked.

"What can I say?" Rogue said with a shrug, continuing to avoid his eyes. "The whole 'no touching' thing was going to get to me eventually. I reached my breaking point. I freed myself of my prison, jumped...and the next thing I know Carol's gone and caught me. Of course, naked, so there was no way for her to avoid touching my skin, and by the time we were safe..."

"She was in a coma," Gambit finished. "And they still denied you the implant? Even after that?"

"My shrink is of the opinion that if I'm invulnerable, I can't kill myself," Rogue said bitterly. "Which is completely stupid. I could, I don't know, drown or asphyxiate myself or something."

"But you haven't..."

Rogue shook her head. "I'm not going to do that to Carol. I'm not going to let her sacrifice be in vain."

Gambit pulled Rogue close and hugged her gently.

"Remind me to thank her," he said.

* * *

><p>Gambit dallied in New York for a few weeks, and then he had to move on for a job. Distance, however, didn't stop him from contacting Rogue—whether by phone or by email—multiple times a day. Rogue didn't mind, although Carol started to worry that maybe he was smothering her.<p>

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," she told Rogue.

"I know, and it's fine," Rogue assured her. "At the moment I don't mind. We're really still getting to know each other. I'm sure things will settle down eventually."

* * *

><p>Gambit was always very good about leaving town after pulling off a job and rarely dallied more than a day. On this occasion, he realised that X-23 lived nearby, just far enough away to put some good distance between him and his latest job. He figured, hey, why not? So Gambit called her, and they arranged to meet at a particular park.<p>

When he arrived, he found a group of people practicing Tai Chi in the middle of the park. He watched the group for a time, and then realised that X-23 was amongst them. He found himself a nearby bench to sit on and watched.

The session soon came to an end. Gambit watched as X-23 walked over to the instructor, who was about the same hight as well as the same hair colour. Gambit stood when X-23 started gesturing towards him. As X-23 and her instructor started walking towards him, Gambit realised they had the same eyes, the same face shape, the same nose... Gambit figured this was probably her father. Although there was something about the age in his face and the way he had his hair that reminded Gambit of someone else again, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Hello Remy," she said as they drew close.

"Bonjour Laura," Gambit replied with a nod of his head. "How have you been?"

"I am well," X-23 replied. "This is my father, Logan."

Technically, X-23 was Logan's clone, but since cloning was illegal she couldn't actually admit that.

"Pleasure to meet you," Gambit replied, holding out his hand.

Logan regarded him for a moment, sniffed, and then took his hand and shook it firmly.

"Laura told me you were her teammate on that show," Logan said.

"Oui," Gambit replied.

"I've heard a lot about you."

"I find that very hard to believe," Gambit said before he could stop his quick tongue.

Logan gave Gambit a hard look and then grinned. "I've heard very little about you, and that's a lot for Laura."

"Aww, I feel loved."

* * *

><p>Roberto "Sunsport" Da Costa looked over Ray "Bezerker" Crisp as he worked on the computer. Roberto watched as a piece of footage from <em>Beauty<em>_and__the__Geek_ played out on the screen.

"How's it going?" Roberto asked.

Ray gave a shrug. "An editors job is never done. Or it feels that way."

Roberto chuckled.

* * *

><p>Gambit lay on the bed in his hotel room in Las Vegas with his phone plastered to his ear. He loved listening to the sound of Rogue's voice. What he wasn't enjoying was the frequency the names of other men appeared in their conversation. Okay, sure, these were guys she worked with, or were friends of Carol's or for some other reason had known them for awhile. He <em>knew<em> he had nothing to be concerned about, but she kept talking about them with affection in her voice and mentioning things they did together, and it was driving him crazy.

Finally, while Rogue was in the middle of recounting a story about something that some Steve guy did while in the lunchroom at work that day, Gambit yelled "well why don't you date him then!" and hung up in her ear. He immediately regretted this action, realising immediately that he had let his jealously get the better of him once again. He tried calling her back, but there was no answer.

Gambit sighed and sat on the side of the bed, his head buried in his hands. It was just a stupid story. There was no reason for him to get upset over it. Heck, there was no reason for him to get upset about Steve at all! Okay, sure, Steve did get to see Rogue all the time because they worked together, and no doubt they had a close working relationship, and probably they had their little inside jokes, and he might even have her phone number and occasionally contacted her at home—

"Remy shut up," he told himself.

He tried ringing Rogue again, still no answer. Great; once again he had screwed up a perfectly good relationship.

Gambit gave it a few more minutes and tried again. When there was still no response, he pulled out his laptop computer and started searching for florists near Rogue's apartment.

x-x-x

As soon as Rogue got to the lobby of the Las Vegas hotel that Gambit was staying at, she pulled out her phone. She ignored the stares her dishevelled appearance and wind-whipped hair was getting, and dialled Gambit's number.

"Roguey!" he exclaimed as soon as he answered. "Oh thank—"

"Which room are you in, Swamp Rat?" Rogue demanded, storming into the elevator.

A little confused, Gambit told her the number. Rogue pressed the appropriate floor button in the elevator.

"I'm going to be knocking on your door in a minute and if you don't answer it _straight__away_, you're going to be up for the repair costs, you got me?"

Rogue hung up before Gambit could reply. The elevator doors opened on Gambit's floor, and Rogue stalked out and down the hallway. It was easy to find Gambit's room, because he was already holding the door open when she got there.

"Rogue?" he queried.

Rogue grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pushed him into the room, letting the door close behind her, and pressed him up against the wall.

"Don't you _ever_ hang up on me again!" she yelled at him.

"I...I..." Gambit said, completely thrown off by the fact that she was here, "I promise I won't do it again."

"Good!" Rogue said. "Honestly, of all the stupid things—"

"I know, and I'm sorry," Gambit said earnestly. "I know you and Steve work together, and there's nothing...like that...going on between you, and it was stupid and I'm sorry and—"

Rogue pressed her gloved fingers against Gambit's lips and he fell silent, his eyes pleading.

"Well, you did warn me you got jealous," she said, sighed and finally released him. "Don't worry. We'll figure this out together."

Gambit stared at her. A smile grew on his lips.

"You mean that?" he asked hopefully. "Really?"

"Of course I mean that."

Gambit hugged her tightly. "No one's ever said that to me before. My ex-girlfriends—the ones I cared about, I mean—they always told me to get over it."

"Well, you do have to get over it," Rogue said, hugging him back. "But I'm not going to make you try to do it by yourself."

Gambit buried his face in her shoulder. "I love you."

Rogue smiled. "I love you too."

There was a pause, and then Gambit said: "Can you say that again?"

Rogue giggled as she pulled back from the hug.

"I love you too," she said. "I don't love it when you hang up in my ear though. I don't even 'extreme like' you when you do that."

"Sorry," Gambit said, brushing her hair out of her face. "How'd you get here so fast, anyway?"

"I flew," she replied with a shrug.

"But...New York is five or six hours away," Gambit pointed out. "It's only been an hour."

"It's five or six hours away if you're on a big, clunky, heavy commercial plane," Rogue said cockily. "Do I look like a Boeing 747 to you?"

Gambit laughed. "No, not you definite do not. And it explains the bug guts on your forehead."

"Ugh, yeah hate that," Rogue said, resisting the urge to wipe her forehead. "That and getting a face full of bird. That sucks."

"You can use my shower if you want," Gambit said, sliding his hand around her waist.

"That's a little redundant if I'm flying straight back, Swamp Rat," Rogue replied, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Aww, but you just got here," Gambit said. "You should at least let me take you out to dinner, or maybe you could stay the weekend?"

Before Rogue could reply, her phone rang. She cleared her throat, let go of Gambit, and pulled her phone from her pocket.

"Hello?," Rogue said.

"Hey," Carol replied. "So, did you and Remy have a fight?"

Rogue blinked in surprise at the question. "I guess, why?"

"Because I just took receipt of a big bouquet of flowers, a box of Swiss chocolates, and half a dozen balloons that say 'I'm sorry.'"

"Aww," Rogue said and grinned at Gambit. "Did you send me flowers?"

Gambit coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Umm, yes..."

"Are you with him right now?" Carol asked.

"Yes," Rogue replied, taking Gambit's hand with her free one.

"I thought he was in Vegas."

"He is."

"Ahhh," Carol said knowingly. "So can I expect you back soon, or are you still busy kicking his butt?"

"Actually," Rogue said, smiling at Gambit. "I thought I might stay for the weekend."

"Darn," Carol said while Gambit pumped a fist in the air in a silent cheer, "now I'm going to have to go back out and buy my own Swiss chocolates,"

Rogue laughed.

"Okay, well, have fun in Vegas," Carol went on cheerfully. "And don't forget, we both promised each other we'd be the maid of honour at each other's weddings—"

"Carol—"

"—so make sure you give me at least two hours notice before any last minute wedding plans."

"See you Monday, Carol," Rogue said dryly.

Carol laughed wickedly as she hung up.

* * *

><p>"Eeee!" Kitty said, clapping her hands excitedly and bouncing on the spot in front of the TV. "Pete! I'm on TV!"<p>

Her boyfriend, Pete Wisdom, looked in the lounge room as Kitty giddily rewound the ad.

"You have to see this!" she insisted.

Kitty pressed play again, and Pete smile while an ad played for the next season of _Beauty__and__the__Geek_.

"See! There I am!" she said pointing excitedly. "And there's my partner, Pete, except he's Piotr, not Peter like you, and that's..."

* * *

><p>"This," Henri said, sitting down on the lounge in between Mercy and Gambit with a big bowl of popcorn in his hands, "is going to be good."<p>

Gambit chuckled. "Just remember, Mercy made me do it."

"Ha!" Mercy said. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have met that Rogue fille we still haven't met yet."

"All in good time," Gambit said.

"Shh, it's starting!"

The first episode of _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ began to play, and it opened up with a few of the auditions that had occurred around the country. They got a good laugh at a number of the Beauties who didn't know the answers to what they thought were easy questions, and then got even more laughs about the number of Geeks who could recite Pi to a ridiculous number of decimal places. They also had a good giggle at the small piece of Gambit's audition that they showed:

_"What race is Mr Spock?"_

_"Who?"_

_"Mr Spock."_

_"Umm..." Gambit said, appearing to thinking about this very hard. "Chinese?"_

Henri sniggered. "Did they ever figure out you like _Star__Trek_?"

"Nope," Gambit replied proudly. "But while I was saying that, all I could think about was the time Kirk said Spock got his head caught in a mechanical rice picker. I wonder how many nerds out there will get the joke?"

Henri turned to Mercy. "This is all your fault, you know that, right?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Mercy replied.

Finally, the show moved on from the auditions to the _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ mansion. They were briefly introduced to each of the Beauties upon their arrival, and then the Geeks.

_"I'm Rogue, and I didn't pick that name for the fun of it," Rogue said, her face dominating the screen. "I'm untouchable, undateable, and my idea of a good time is being left alone."_

"Wow, she has the perfect mating call for you, Remy," Henri teased him.

Gambit chuckled. The show then went through the rigmarole of picking partners, showed a little part of their pool party that night, and finally moved on to the first challenges. Henri couldn't stop laughing during Gambit's debate with Tabitha.

"Mon dieu, you were playing that poor fille like a fiddle," Henri said, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Yes, yes I did," Gambit replied proudly. "And Tabby will never know."

After the challenges, Gambit had the chance to listen to Tabitha, Scott, Pietro and Rahne's discussion on who to send to elimination. Having never been privy to that conversation at the time—for obvious reason—he found it fascinating to get an idea of how that conversation went.

"I sense I'm going to enjoy watching this," he said. "Even if it is a little weird seeing myself on TV."

* * *

><p>"Hi Sis," Pietro said, zipping to Wanda's side while she was busy on the computer. "Whatcha doing?"<p>

"Ahh! Pietro!" Wanda exclaimed, irritated at being startled by his abrupt appearance. " No one invited you. And I'm seeing what the world at large thinks of the first episode."

"Hmm, interesting, interesting," said Pietro, glancing over the forum. He then pointed at one subject line. "'Remy is a plant'. What's that about?"

Wanda clicked on the link.

"Huh," she mused and she read, and Pietro read over her shoulder. "Apparently Remy is smarter than he appeared."

"That guy thinks Remy's a con artist," Pietro said.

Wanda and Pietro looked at each other. "Nah."

* * *

><p>X-23 sat in front of the TV with her circle of friends: Julian, Surge, David, Mercury, Dust and Santo. As they watched the second episode of <em>Beauty<em>_and__the__Geek_, the scene changed to one of herself and Gambit sitting on the bed with the books.

_"So," Gambit said. "Do you have a boyfriend?"_

_There was a long pause, and then X-23 replied: "I do not know."_

_Another pause and then: "But there is someone you have, ahh, romantic feelings for?"_

_"I do not want to talk about it."_

"Gee," said Surge. "I wonder who that could be? Hmmmm..."

Mercury giggled and Santo guffawed.

"You're hilarious, Surge," Julian retorted hotly.

X-23 looked down at her hands in her lap. After returning home, she had been able to tell Julian that she missed him. It was harder trying to tell him that she liked him. The words wouldn't emerge from her mouth.

As the episode progressed, she felt more and more embarrassed by her performance, especially when she saw her efforts during the challenge, the relationship advice. Her friends found her efforts hilarious. X-23 just felt woefully inept.

"Leave her alone," Dust said firmly. "Laura did her best."

"That's right," said a deeper voice from behind them, and everyone bar X-23 turned to see Logan leaning against the door frame.

"Uhh, hi Logan," said Mercury. "Been there long?"

Logan lit his cigar. "Long enough."

The group watched the rest of the show in silence. When it finished, the chief offenders were very quick to depart. Dust was the second last to go, leaving X-23 alone with Julian.

"So, umm," he said awkwardly. "That Remy guy seems, umm, nice."

"He was a good partner," X-23 replied. "He helped me a lot."

"Well, that's good to know."

Silence fell. Julian took a deep breath. Normally he didn't have problems asking out girls, but he found it very off-putting being attracted to someone who literally scared him. Still, she had all but told him to his face that she liked him too, and the teasing from their peers was getting a bit much. Plus with their friends always acting as if they were already a couple, calling himself X-23's boyfriend, and referring to X-23 as his "crazy girlfriend" it was little wonder X-23 was confused about their status.

"I, uhh...I've got umm, romantic feelings for you too," he said finally.

X-23 chewed her bottom lip for a moment, and then said: "W-would you like to go on a date with me?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Julian replied, a grin appearing on his face. "How about Friday? We can go out to dinner."

"Yes."

"Great. I'll pick you up, say, about six-thirty?"

"That is acceptable."

Julian's grin broadened. "Good. I have to go, but I guess I'll see you on Friday."

X-23 walked with Julian to the door and said goodbye. As she turned back into the house, she saw Logan standing there. He took in the bright smile on her face and nodded.

"About time, kid," he said.

* * *

><p>Carol snatched up the phone as it rang, wondering it if it would be for her, or if it was Gambit again. It used to be that every time the phone rang it was for her. Not that she was complaining about the change in status quo.<p>

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon, my name is Dr Hank McCoy," said the caller. "I'm calling from Forge Industries and I was hoping that Rogue might be there. Or are you she?"

"No, I'm her housemate, Carol," she replied, startled. "I'll just get her for you, just a second."

Carol put the phone down, and then trotted down the hall to Rogue's bedroom. She gave a quick knock on the door, and then poked her head in.

"There's a doctor from Forge Industries on the phone for you," Carol said as Rogue lifted her head from her book.

"Forge Industries?" Rogue repeated. "Why would they be calling me?"

"No idea, honey," Carol replied. "Maybe you should pick up the phone and ask him."

Rogue pulled at face at Carol as if to say 'well duh' and put down her book. Momentarily she was on the phone.

"I have an application you put in about four years ago for one of the power control implants," Hank said after identifying himself again. "Is this the most recent?"

"Yeah," Rogue said slowly.

"Well, after reviewing it this morning—along with a number of the other previous applications—I would like you to consider reapplying," Hank said seriously. "I find some of the reasons why the psychiatrist on this application in particular for not giving you an implant to be rather specious. I would suggest you making an appointment and applying through one of our recommended psychiatrists; yes they are more expensive, but you'd have to see one of them if you were accepted for the implant anyway, at least for a short while."

"You...you want me to reapply," Rogue said, sounding stunned.

"Yes," Hank confirmed. "I can't give you a definite, of course, but I believe you have a good chance of being accepted. Fifteen years is a long time not to be able to touch anyone, as I'm certain you're well aware. I am both surprised and concerned you weren't granted an implant years ago."

"You really think I have a chance?" Rogue asked, trying not to get hopeful, lest her hopes were dashed once more. "I gave up applying because the hassle wasn't worth the constant rejections."

"Yes, I do," Hank said. "In fact, I already took the liberty of talking to Doc Samson—one of our recommended psychiatrists—he has had a cancellation this Thursday at two, if you're interested."

"Yes, please, absolutely," Rogue said.

"Excellent. I can book you in right now..." Hank replied. "Do you have pen and paper handy?"

Rogue did. She wrote down the address, as well as the name and time, thanked Hank profusely, and finally hung up. Carol watched her curiously.

"He wanted me to reapply for the implant," Rogue explained, trying very hard and failing not to get too excited. "He can't understand why I haven't got one already. I'm to see a Doc Samson—one of their shrinks—this Thursday."

"Oh Rogue, that's wonderful," Carol said, trotting over to give her friend a hug.

"He said he can't guarantee it," Rogue said. "And I'm trying really hard not to get my hopes up."

"I'll get my hopes up for the both of us then," said Carol.

Rogue giggled. "I can't believe it. It's so out of the blue too."

"Not really," Carol replied. "I mean, it was only last night you were telling Remy on _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ why you didn't have an implant."

"Oh you're right," Rogue said, remembering watching the massage/car maintenance episode with Carol the night before. "Do you suppose Dr McCoy watches it then?"

"It's one hell of a coincidence if he—or someone he knows—doesn't."

"Good point," Rogue said thoughtfully. "Carol, don't tell anyone just yet. Especially not Remy."

"My lips are sealed."

* * *

><p>After watching the fourth episode of <em>Beauty<em>_and__the__Geek_, the one with the interior decorating and computer challenges, Gambit was reminded of something. On impulse, he rang X-23's home phone number.

"Yeah?" was Logan's gruff response upon answering the phone.

"Bonjour M'sieur Logan," said Gambit. "This is Remy—"

"Laura's not here right now."

"That's fine. Actually, I was hoping to talk to you."

x-x-x

A few days later, X-23 opened up the door of her home and was able to confirm what her nose already knew; Gambit was there.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi Laura," Gambit replied as Logan came into view behind her, and lifted up the big box in his hands. "I know it's not Christmas or your Birth—well, actually I have no idea when your Birthday is... In any case, I got you a present. May I come in?"

"Yes," X-23 replied and opened up the door. There was a particular scent about him, one she liked, and it was particularly strong. It made her happy and sad at the same time.

Gambit walked inside and X-23 led him to the lounge room. Logan followed, keeping his distance. Once they were settled on the lounge, Gambit handed X-23 the box.

"Here you go," he said.

He watched as X-23 lifted them lid of the box, and he grinned when the little brown Labrador puppy immediately put his little paws on the side of the box and poked his head up. The best part, however, was seeing X-23's face go from her usual solemn expression to "Eee he's so cute!" in under a second. She darted a look at Gambit.

"He's all yours," Gambit said. "I picked him out especially for you."

X-23 looked back at the puppy, not knowing if she dared.

"It's okay, Laura," Logan said, smelling her anxiety. "No one's going to make you kill this one."

Gambit was curious about that particular reassurance, but it seemed to do the trick. In moments the box was on the floor and X-23 was hugging the puppy with all the enthusiasm of a girl a third her age.

* * *

><p><em>"That's because today is... Geek Makeover Day!"<em>

"Yay!" Carol cheered.

Rogue laughed. They were sitting in front of the TV with Michael, watching the fifth episode.

"We can already see the results of the makeover," said Michael. "Rogue doesn't wear a clown's supply of make up any more."

"Shush you," Rogue retorted.

"Hey, I'm excited 'cause now we get to see the transformation as it happened," Carol said. "Hurrah!"

x-x-x

Amara scowled at the TV, watching herself looking dejected and miserable at the bar during the 'frumpy flirting' challenge. She hated that challenge. And she hated seeing herself so miserable, and remembering how awful that experience had been.

But if just seeing herself wasn't bad enough, it was worse when she saw the other's reflections on the challenge. One in particular:

_"I don't know why everyone got so upset about it," Gambit told the camera. "It's not like it was real. It was a game, a challenge, and man it was fun. I wanna do it again, only this time I want to be even more repulsive to look at. Maybe with a great bit wart..."_

x-x-x

_"I suspect that Remy had fun with the challenge today," Rogue said to the camera. "I don't think he said anything because he realised he would piss a lot of people off if he told them he actually enjoyed himself. But yeah, Remy makes me think of the prince who pretends to be a pauper just for kicks."_

Henri laughed.

"She has you pegged, doesn't she?" Mercy said, smirking at Gambit.

"Almost," said Gambit, grinning. "It's more the pauper who became a prince, who occasionally pretends to be a pauper again for nostalgia value."

After they break, the episode moved onto the speed dating. Gambit geared himself up for watching Rogue with the other guys, but strangely, when the moment came, the green-eyed monster never showed up. He glared at Joseph every time he appeared on the screen, but otherwise Gambit found himself to be surprisingly calm. He figured it was probably because it happened months ago now, and he had been prepared.

…...…...

The sixth episode of _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ wasn't even over when the denouncements started. In less than twenty-four hours, Wanda, Amara, Amanda and Lance discovered the truth: they had been played by a card shark.

Wanda, thanks to her constant review of the _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ forums, was the first to find out. Initially she couldn't quite believe what was being said; that Gambit practically lived in Vegas and he regularly played—and won big—at the poker tables. She dismissed them at first, primarily because there were only two kinds of threads about Gambit in the forums; those who hated his guts and those who adored him. She had gotten tired of reading both. Still, if the card shark thing was true, maybe some of the other rumours might be true too...

Henri and Mercy thought it was hilarious. So did Emil, and a number of other friends of Gambit's, who called him up to congratulate or otherwise tell him off for his tricks.

"So yeah," Gambit said cheerfully to Rogue over the phone. "I'm having a great day. Man, I'm already looking forward to the reunion."

"Oh? So you haven't actually spoken to anyone yet?" Rogue asked, sounding amused.

"Nah, I'm only in contact with you and Laura," Gambit replied. "What about you?"

"Wanda, Toad, Kurt, Pyro, Laura, Kitty, and Pete," Rogue replied.

"Wow, you really did make friends."

"Carol was impressed."

* * *

><p>Gambit froze while watching the seventh episode.<p>

"I knew it!" he exclaimed. "I _knew_ he looked familiar but I figured it was just because he and Laura looked so much alike."

"What?" Henri asked, eyeing him curiously.

Gambit paused the TV and pointed to one of the manikins in the background during the tour guide challenge. "That's Wolverine."

"Yeah, so?"

"Laura's dad. Logan. He's Wolverine," Gambit said, running his fingers through his hair. "I am such an idiot for not realising it earlier. The healing factor, the claws, the fact that Laura knew everything about Wolverine during our study. And I mean everything. At the time I thought it was just a military history enthusiasm thing but... damn..."

x-x-x

"Huh," Rogue mused as the episode came to an end.

"What's 'huh'?" Carol asked.

"Remy decided to kiss me after that elimination," Rogue said. "I guess they decided to cut that bit out."

"Darn, they always cut out the good parts."

* * *

><p>"Hello?" Carol said upon answering the phone.<p>

"Hey Carol," Gambit said. "Is Rogue there? I've been trying to get her for days now."

"Oh, she didn't tell you?" Carol asked.

"Tell me what?"

"She's having...umm..." Carol hesitated, and then changed what she was going to say: "She's got a big project on at the moment and is incommunicado for now."

"Oh," Gambit said. "I was hoping we could hook up before the reunion. I wonder why she didn't tell me?"

Gambit sounded so unhappy, that it took all Carol's self-restraint not to blow Rogue's secret.

"She is going to be at the reunion, but she might not have a chance to see you before that," Carol said carefully. "I'm not even able to contact her at the moment either. Oh, I watched _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ last night. I loved your little reunion with Rogue when you guys were all looking for your former housemates."

"Yeah, that was a pleasant surprise," Gambit said glumly. "There isn't anything wrong is there? She's not having second thoughts about us...is she?"

"What? No! Definitely not," Carol said, and Gambit was instantly reassured by her vehement tone. "She's had a one-track mind all week leading up to this. As incredible as it sounds, she probably just forgot to tell you. It's a pretty big deal, and I'd love to fill you in on the details, but you should really hear it from Rogue, not me."

* * *

><p>A few days later, Carol arrived at Forge Industries Medi Lab. She was directed to Rogue's private room, and found her best friend waiting nervously.<p>

"Hi," Carol said, smiling at her. "How'd it go?"

Rogue turned and smiled back at her. "Good, good. I don't really feel any different, but Dr McCoy says the surgery was a success."

"A very happy success, I might add," said Hank from the doorway, with a clipboard in one hand. "Not a single complication, which is how we like these things to go. Ms Danvers, I assume?"

"Yes, but please call me Carol," Carol replied.

"Carol," Hank repeated with a nod, and then gestured to the hallway with his free hand. "If you two ladies would like to come with me. We're most appreciative of your assistance, Carol. I understand you've been at the receiving end of Rogue's mutation before."

"I have," Carol replied, following Hank out alongside Rogue: "I'm hoping not to be today."

Hank chuckled. "You're not the only one."

Hank led them to a lab where both women were set up with a number of different monitors. Rogue took off her gloves and Carol saw a new watch on Rogue's left hand.

"Okay, Rogue," said Hank from behind a nearby console. "Whenever you're ready."

Rogue took a deep breath and reminded herself that all the other tests had worked out. They wouldn't be doing a 'real' test now if they had doubts it wouldn't work. She pressed the appropriate button on her watch, which activated the new power control implant in her brain. Her nervous green eyes met Carol's encouraging blue ones, and she reached out her hand to take Carol's bare ones.

Nothing happened.

Rogue started to cry. She couldn't help herself. For the first time in fifteen years she was touching the skin of another person and not hurting them. Her hands gripped Carol's tightly and then moved up her bare arms.

"Congratulations Rogue," Carol said, holding her tight, but not too tightly, as the implant would have turned off Rogue's borrowed powers too. "Congratulations."


	11. Reunion Episode

**Reunion Episode**

"And here's your host...Spyke!"

Spyke swaggered onto the stage as the lived audience applauded. One side there were some lounges with enough space for ten people, and behind them were ten comfortable stools. On the other side was mostly space, but a large TV was set up on a wall. Spyke lifted his hands as he stopped centre stage.

"Thank you all, and welcome to the very special _Beauty__and__the__Geek_ reunion show," he said. "Tonight we'll be reviewing the season highlights, teammate clashes, never before seen footage, the romances, and the results of our online polls."

Spyke waited for the applause to die down.

"But first, let's meet this season's Beauties and Geeks: Jubilee and Bobby."

Jubilee and Bobby emerged from different side of the stage. Although they walked towards each other at first, there was a wall in the way so they couldn't see each other. They turned to face the audience, then walked down a couple of stairs, and it was then that they finally saw each other. They clasped hands and then made their way to the far seats. The audience cheered them on.

"Pietro and Rahne."

Pietro and Rahne stepped out from backstage at the sound of their names. Once they had found their seats, Spyke called out the next team.

"Tabitha and Scott."

Tabitha and Scott were the first team to hug each other upon their reunion.

"Jean and Fred."

"Kitty and Piotr."

It may have been Kitty's imagination, but she thought the crowd may have cheered just that little bit louder for them.

"Amara and Pyro."

"Lance and Rogue."

Lance and Rogue didn't hug when they saw each other, but Lance did shake her hand. They sat down on two of the stools when they got to the seats.

"Amanda and Kurt."

"Remy and Laura."

Gambit was certain to sit down on the stool next to Rogue. She smiled when he caught her eyes. They hadn't had a chance to speak yet since that 'big project' of hers...whatever it was. He looked forward to talking to her at the party afterwards.

"And last, but not least, Wanda and Toad!"

The cheers and applause was definitely loudest for Wanda and Toad as they entered the stage and sat down in the middle of the group.

"Welcome to the show, everyone," Spyke said, addressing the group. "Ready to show the world what really went on in the mansion?"

A chorus of 'yes's and 'no's responded. Spyke chuckled, and address the primary camera.

"Pietro was only here for two shows," said Spyke. "But he wasted no time getting to know all the ladies, Beauty and Geek alike."

There was some laughter as they went to the screen and watched a montage of Pietro flirting with almost all the women.

"There were two of the ten women who missed out on Pietro's smooth lines," said Spyke. "Rogue..."

_Pietro approached the table where X-23 and Rogue were playing chess._

_"So Rogue, could I get you to—" he began_

_"No."_

_"But what if—"_

_"No."_

_"Even if—"_

_"No."_

Rogue giggled. She was pretty sure the scene they'd just watched had been taken out of context, but it was still pretty funny.

"And Wanda," said Spyke, and everyone looked to the screen:

_"What the hell are you doing here?" Wanda demanded._

_"Same thing you are," Pietro replied. "The money. And to pick up chicks, which, okay, I'm guessing you're not here for that—"_

_"What the hell, Pietro?" Wanda snapped at him, shaking her finger. "You knew I was auditioning for the show! Why do you always have to spoil everything?"_

_"Hey, if you don't ask..."_

_"I hate you."_

_"I hate you more."_

_"That's highly unlikely," Wanda replied with a flick of her fingers. "Stay out of my way, Pietro."_

_"Or you'll do what?" Pietro challenged her cockily. "Tell Father on me?"_

_Wanda glared at him, and twin hex bolts glowed with blue light at her clenched fists. "If you even dream of telling anyone here that we're twins, I will make you wish you were never born!"_

There was a collective gasp across the room, followed swiftly by exclamations of shock and awe.

"I think we just found some 'unseen footage'," Gambit said with a slight smirk.

"Omigod, you're twins?" Tabitha exclaimed, staring at Wanda and Pietro.

"Hey Wanda," Pietro said, grinning wickedly at her. "I didn't tell anyone."

"Yeah, yeah," Wanda replied and flicked a hex bolt at his stool, causing it to topple over and only Pietro's super-speed stop him from falling. "Quiet now, Pietro."

"Wait a second," said Scott. "I can tell that you two don't exactly get along, but Pietro was responsible for the ninth vote that won Wanda and Toad the contest."

"Doesn't matter," Jubilee said quickly, before anyone else could comment. "I was going to vote for Wanda and Toad—sorry Remy and Laura—so they still would have won."

Scott considered this. "Okay."

"It would have been just typical if you had screwed things up for me again," Wanda said haughtily to Pietro.

"But I didn't," Pietro replied. "And I think you should start being nice to me. I was nice to you."

He wasn't expecting the applause that comment got, and going from the look on her face, Wanda hadn't either. She sighed.

"Fine I'll lay off on the hex bolts," she said, considered, and then added: "At least until next time you do something to piss me off."

x-x-x

"And now it's time for Clash of the Teammates: Round One. Wanda and Toad."

The video they played showed a montage of scenes from the early days of the competition. It started with Wanda and Toad's first meeting, then moved on to numerous instances of Wanda being obviously disgusted by Toad's smell.

_"Wash," Wanda said while in the bedroom with Toad._

_"Wh-what?" Toad stammered in reply, his hopeful expression turning wary._

_"Go have a shower," Wanda said firmly, gesturing to the bathroom door. "Now."_

_"But I hate showers," Toad whined._

_"A bath then. I don't care," Wanda replied. "But you are not touching me until after you've scrubbed every inch of your body thoroughly."_

_"But—"_

_"No buts!" Wanda insisted, her eyes blazing. "You're here to learn how to improve your social life, right? Well, this is where you start! Hygiene! You haven't showered once since you've been here, but mark my words, you are going to start washing every single day starting right now. And you're going to start using deodorant too."_

_"I hate deodorant," Toad complained, turning up his nose and seeming to sink into the floor._

_"I don't care!" Wanda said, and a blue light grew around her hand as she clenched her fist. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Toad. And you won't like the hard way."_

Everyone proceeded to laugh—and laugh hard—as they watched Toad being zapped by Wanda's hex bolts when he was still reluctant. After that, a clever montage followed of Toad calling Wanda "baby cakes" on multiple occasions, and Wanda responding with "don't call me that." Both Wanda and Toad had smiles on their faces when the video ended.

"Wanda," said Spyke. "You gave Toad a bit of a hard time there."

"Yeah, but...that only showed half of it," Wanda replied, feeling a little awkward. "Yeah, we got off to a bad start, but we're friends now. I just don't reciprocate Toad's, umm, stronger feelings for me."

"Toad?" Spyke inquired.

"Aww, it's okay. Besides," Toad said, sounding proud. "I got a date."

Toad beamed as the audience applauded him.

x-x-x

"And the results of our online poll," Spyke said. "We asked our viewers who their favourite Geek was."

Pictures of the Geeks appeared on the screen.

"And the winner is... Kurt."

Kurt gestured to himself dramatically with a look of wide-eyed amazement on his face.

"You love me!" he said to the applause. "You really love me!"

x-x-x

"One of the first romances in the mansion was that of Jean and Scott," Spyke said.

Jean and Scott—along with everyone else—watch the next video, a collection of their precious few intimate moments in the mansion. It ended with their brief reunion on the last day of the competition.

"Jean, Scott," Spyke said when the video was over. "Months later, how's that romance going now?"

"Pretty good, actually," Jean said, leaning over and taking Scott's hand in hers. "We've been dating ever since."

Scott looked a little bashful at the applause that followed.

x-x-x

"And now it's time for Clash of the Teammates: Round Two. Lance and Rogue."

As with Wanda and Toad before them, the video that played on the screen started with Rogue and Lance's first meeting. It was followed up by them settling into their room, and then studying for their first challenge.

_"Okay, I need to go to the washroom," Rogue said, standing up. "When I come out, we can work on my stuff."_

_"Okay," Lance replied._

_He set his book aside and waited until Rogue was in then ensuite. He waited for just a second, then he bolted for the bedroom door._

After that, they watched more and more scenes of Lance going out of his way to avoid Rogue. Scenes from the two eliminations where they were told off for not getting along were shown, a few more bits and pieces, and then finally Lance and Rogue getting along during the flair bartending challenge preparation.

"So, Lance, Rogue," said Spyke once the video was over. "You two didn't seem to like each other's company all that much."

"In fairness to Lance," Rogue said before Lance could say anything, "I was deliberately pushing him away. Him, and everyone else in the mansion. Of course, _some_ people are more stubborn than others."

Rogue gave Gambit a pointed look. He grinned back at her.

"Look, all I'm going to say in my defence is that I once knew a guy who wore gloves all the time, like Rogue does, who could make anything living wither and die with just a touch," said Lance. "I'm talking y'know, giant trees reduced to nothing but a husk in two minutes."

He held back a comment about "if he didn't have an implant then, he'd better have one now," remembering what he knew of Rogue's history of trying to get an implant.

x-x-x

"Kitty was one of the most popular Beauties in the mansion. In fact, she had three of the guys trying for her hand," Spyke said, and the camera focused on each one in turn: "Her partner Piotr; Kurt, and Lance."

Kitty looked a little embarrassed, even moreso when the audience seemed to cheer for their preference.

"So, Kitty," said Spyke, grinning at her, like he was enjoying the awkward spot he was putting her in. "What do you think?"

"They're all great guys, Spyke," Kitty replied, avoiding looking at anyone's eyes. "And if I was single I'd date any one of them, but I'm not. I have a boyfriend back home."

"Awww," the audience chorused in disappointment.

"Sorry."

x-x-x

"And for our second online poll this evening," said Spyke. "The results are in for your favourite Beauty."

Pictures of the Beauties slide-showed across the screen.

"And the winner is...Remy!"

Gambit laughed at that. He laughed even harder at the handful of boos he got from the audience in amongst the cheers and applause.

x-x-x

"We all remember when the Beauties and Geeks went to Vegas," said Spyke. "Before the challenges, they had a little time to see the sights and hang around in the casino. Here's some unseen footage from that trip."

The video started out on Gambit during a confessional:

_"There's no point in hiding it, not from you," he said. "I'm a playboy, I even auditioned in Vegas; it shouldn't be that hard to figure out that I know my way around a casino."_

The scene switched to X-23 and Gambit in the casino.

_"We should go to the poker room," X-23 said to Gambit, "It will be good practice for you if we are correct about the Beauties challenge."_

_Gambit nodded thoughtfully. "Okay."_

The video cut to the poker room and as the music played, everyone watched a montage of Gambit and X-23 winning over and over again at the poker table. As their respective piles of chips grew higher and higher, Gambit's moreso, the audience caught on. As if to just rub it in, the video ended with Gambit back in the confessional. He smirked at the camera and sprung a deck of card from one hand to the other.

"Omigod it's true," Wanda said, twisting her body around to glare at Gambit. "You _are_ a card shark!"

Gambit grinned at her. "Was, actually. Now that it's been broadcasted on national television, I think it's going to be harder to fool people. But then I've always liked a challenge."

x-x-x

"And for our final segment this evening, we revisit the most unlikely of romances; Remy and Rogue," said Spyke. "Who would have thought that the untouchable woman, and the womanising playboy would hit it off? But they did."

Once again, everyone turned to the screen, and saw Rogue and Gambit standing on the balcony:

_"You're the playboy, right?" Rogue said._

_Gambit ran his fingers down her arm. "Oui."_

_"Well, I'm not some new toy for you to play with," Rogue said, flicking his hand off her. "I'm a woman and I expect to be treated like one."_

_Gambit smiled and looked her over suggestively. "And what a woman you are."_

_"I mean it, Swamp Rat," Rogue said, jabbing his chest with her index finger. "I've dealt with men like you before."_

_"I assure you, ma chère," Gambit said, snaring her hand and bringing it to his lips. "You have never dealt with a man like me before."_

_He kissed her gloved fingers and she snatched her hand away._

The video continued to review the highlights of their relationship on the show; the hot tub, the massage practice, their dates, the trip home from Las Vegas, a few more tender moments, the elimination where they faced off together and their reunion the next challenge.

"Plus, here's a little something you guys didn't see before," Spyke said.

_Gambit and Rogue were in the elimination room and their faces were only an inch apart._

_"Since you're eliminated, you can't be disqualified any more," he said._

As Rogue watched Gambit try to kiss her, she noticed that they had edited out her verbal objection. They also chose a camera angle that didn't show her face at that moment.

_Rogue pulled back immediately, breaking off the kiss. Gambit slumped forward. His head slid down her torso to her stomach as his legs collapsed beneath him. Rogue gasped lightly as her green and white eyes changed to red and black._

_"You little idiot," Rogue said, kneeling down and catching Gambit's upper body._

_Gambit groaned and rubbed his head. "Worth it."_

_"Liar," Rogue said, glaring at him. "There is no way that pathetic excuse for a kiss is at all worth the pounding headache I know you have now."_

"Awwww!" Kitty said, grinning broadly.

"Hey Remy," said Lance. "Do you still think it was worth it?"

"Absolutely," Gambit replied, grinning and completely unashamed.

"But wait," Spyke said. "There's more!"

The final video started with Wanda, Toad, Amanda, Kurt, Gambit and X-23 in the main bedroom.

_"Someone's in lo-ove," Wanda said._

_"I am not," Gambit objected groggily with his eyes closed._

_"Someone is also in denial," Amanda said with a giggle._

_"I'm not in love," Gambit insisted. "It's just...extreme like."_

_Kurt laughed. _

_"If that's what you do when you 'extremely like' someone, I don't want to know what you would do when you love someone," Kurt said._

"Remy? Is it still 'extreme like'?" Spyke asked teasingly.

"No, no," Gambit said, shaking his head with a self-depreciating smile on his face. "I have come to terms with the fact that I am very much in love with Rogue."

"Awwww," the audience and a number of the housemates chorused. Gambit laughed ruefully.

"And Rogue?" Spyke asked.

"I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm 'in love'," Rogue said. "I've been pushing people away from me far too long for that kind of admission to come easily. But I—"

"She extremely likes me," Gambit piped up.

Rogue wasn't the only one to laugh at that.

"And you voted against Remy and Laura at the elimination," Spyke went on. "I know that a lot of people—myself included—didn't expect to see that."

"Well, I am called Rogue," she replied with a slight smirk. "But my reasons for voting for Wanda and Toad were exactly what I stated at the time."

"And I'm not interested in holding it against her. Besides, it was only money," Gambit said, hoping that his father, Jean-Luc, would never think he actually had that attitude.

"Yeah, love's way better than money," Kitty said agreeably.

There was some mild applause.

"And we've been dating ever since," Gambit continued with a smile at Rogue.

"Congratulations," Spyke said. "How's the lack of touching thing going? Any more attempts to kiss Rogue?"

Gambit laughed. "Not on the lips. The no-touching thing is kind of a non-issue. I travel a lot, and we live in different states so we don't see each other as often as we'd like. So when we do see each other, I'm just happy being in the same room."

"We're both happy just being in the same room," Rogue added, smiling at him. "See, right now? Thrilled to bits."

Spyke chuckled, then turned to the audience and the main camera.

"Well, that's about all we have time for," he said and Rogue took that as her cue to press the button on her watch which controlled her new implant. "But before we go, Rogue, I believe you have something you wanted to share with Remy?"

Rogue took a deep breath, smiled and pushed off her stool. She stood and faced Gambit. She hadn't really wanted to tell Gambit on TV—she would have much preferred to do so in private—however, this was the first chance they had to see each other since the surgery. She had also needed to advise the producers beforehand that there was a small chance of her missing the reunion in the unlikely event that anything had gone wrong with the surgery.

Gambit followed Rogue's lead and got off his stool too. He looked at her curiously.

"You know how I gave up on applying for the power control implant 'cause I kept getting rejected?" Rogue said, feeling very nervous.

"Oui," he replied with a slight nod.

"Well, I was, ahh, encouraged to reapply," Rogue said, then took a deep breath before she said the shocking part: "I got accepted."

Gambit's face lit up. He grabbed her hands and held them tight. "Rogue, that's awesome news. Congratulations. Hey, it's about time, right?"

Rogue smiled with pleasure at his reaction, and at the applause and cheers from everyone else.

"It gets better," she said.

"How can it possibly get better than that?" Gambit asked.

Rogue grinned at him. "I had the surgery last week."

Gambit froze.

"It was a total success," she said.

"So, you can touch?" Gambit asked slowly, his mind taking time to come to terms with this.

"Uh huh."

'Right now?"

"Uh huh," Rogue said, and barrelled on quickly: "And I was hoping you would give me my first real kiss?"

The initial "Awwww" from the audience was followed up with more cheers and applause as Gambit gently took Rogue's face in his hands and kissed her for all he was worth. Rogue's arms wrapped tightly around him as she kissed back. She felt like she was going to cry again.

"And that's all we have time for," said Spyke, "but be sure to visit our website for more unseen footage, and the chance to audition for the next season of _Beauty__and__the__Geek_. Good night!"

* * *

><p><strong>End!<strong>

Just for the record, there will be no sequel to this story, contrary to the implication of Spyke's final line there, hahaha. My apologies if this reunion episode seemed short. I keep feeling like there's more stuff I should have added to it, but my mind kept drawing a blank.

When I first started writing this, it was just for the lark. I had no idea that while I was giving the Beauties and Geeks challenges, they would be giving me one of my own: Managing a large cast, making sure everyone had adequate air time, and keeping everyone in character. I didn't expect this to be a learning experience for me, but it did. The irony amuses me.

On a side note, if the first chapter seems to have a different tone to the rest of the story, it's because I wrote it about a year or two before I wrote the rest of it. And originally, there was going to be a 'practice' team challenge at the beginning, the winner of which was going to have the option of switching two of the teams around: I was going to make Rogue and Gambit team mates. When I did finally get back to writing the story after being stuck for ages, I knew Laura a lot better than I did originally, and thought that pairing Laura and Gambit up was just perfect. So I deleted about a chapter's worth of writing, hahaha. It was painful, but so worth it. I was also planning on having Kitty and Piotr win the show, but partway through I realised I'd already done everything I had been planning on doing with them, and that Wanda and Toad seemed like the more natural winners.

Incidentally, there's stuff that's happened in this story that I would like to explore further in future stories. So if one day I write a story involving the power control implants, yes I am stealing ideas from myself :)

Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope you've all enjoyed the story. An extra-special thanks to everyone who reviewed too. They're always much appreciated.


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